Theme Of A "A Story Of An Hour"

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Theme of "The Story of an Hour" The theme of a narrative is an important concept in a story especially when the writer is trying to take a sociological position. "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin is a good example in which a feminist idealism against oppression and male dominance is expressed about the limited roles of women in society during the 19th century. "Free! body and soul free!"(Chopin, 79) is said by Mrs. Mallard to suggest her happiness that her husband had died because she is her own person at that point and wasn't just a wife with only wifely duties. Her feelings are not of contempt, but of liberty and bliss.

Mrs. Mallard's expression about her husband's death is one of grief at first, but she starts to realize when she is alone that her true feelings start to surface, ones of joy, freedom, and independence.

Mrs. Mallard sees "…patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other…"(78) which symbolizes her separation from her husband's control and that there is hope beyond the murky life that she had lived prior to the report of his death. She realizes that she can make her own life and have control of her own decisions, perhaps a life that belonged to her and only her. "She was drinking in a very elixir of life…"(79) and "…running riot along those days ahead of her"(79) to convey new language that will give her new experiences and a realization of new ways of thinking.

Mrs. Mallard was free in her mind for an hour and she had feelings that were never expressed or felt before, and was not a possession but a liberated woman.

"Free, free, free!" that had...