"Story of an Hour" When I read Kate Chopin's, "Story of an Hour" I am reminded of a Edgar Allan Poe horror poems. The narrator has a "divine transformation" yet it kills her. This puzzles me, so I will search for the true meaning of this strange story (marriage, as I believe). To accomplish this task and to truly understand this short story, I will first learn about Kate Chopin's life and experiences. Later, I will investigate her use of symbolism in "Story of an Hour" and their' dual purposes (to the story and to Kate Chopin's life/how it relates to her) mainly dealing with marriage.
After researching the life of Kate Chopin, her works do not seem so strange, in comparison with her life and grief. Seemingly death and isolation fuel her writings and her disgust for contemporary society.
Photoportrait of writer Kate Chopin
Kate Chopin in 1894
ChopinThough she was born in 1850 into an upper-middle class family, they were Irish1. Being an Irish immigrant was the worst Ethnicity during the middle and late nineteenth century in America. This period was full of hatred towards the Irish always being depicted as thieves and scoundrels. This hate escalated to the "Molly McGuire" murders and the hanging of over one dozen innocent Irish immigrants. Furthermore, death plagued Kate Chopin throughout her whole life. At the tender age of five, her father, Thomas O'Flaherty died in a rail accident2. Seven years later, her great grandmother, Victoire Verdon Charleville dies, who she had been living with for six years. The same year, Kate's half-brother, George O'Flaherty, dies of typhoid fever3. During the next seven years, she graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart and visited New Orleans, which she loves. She marries, Oscar Chopin, they have six children, but in...