Review of Chopins The Story of an Hour

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:History

Document 1

The literary elements, including an anecdotal storyline, foreshadowing, figurative language, alliteration, suspense and the role of names, help to attract the reader and make the story more memorable and understandable (Pavlenko, 4). Her prevailing message is that male supremacy degrades the woman, ruining the union. The author and her worker existed in the 17th century, a time when women were more of objects in the family as well as in the society (Schmid, n. p. Kate Chopin is a 17th century woman writer born in 1850 in America. These titles indicate that the entire story is a make aimed at showing how women of her time were treated and the consequences of oppression (The Kate Chopin International Society, 1). Furthermore, written in the passive voice, Chopin uses the anecdote to show that Louise the victim and Mallard the cause.

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As the story comes to a close, we come across new people in the scene; the doctors. They say nothing except that the narrator tells us. "They said she had died of heart disease – of the joy that kills. Mallard's state as the "Physical exhaustion that haunted her body. However, when she realizes her opportunities, she is described as experiencing the "breath of rain. Her eaves are then awakened by the "distance song which someone was singing. " This is alliteration. The effect is to show the sudden yet pronounced steps that she goes through as she drunk in the "very elixir of life", another metaphor. p. The man never loses his identity and exerts his authority as the husband while the woman, in the presence of her husband, loses her identity.

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In suspense, we are not told of the husband's actions or reactions when the wife passes out. By using this suspense and name roles, Chopin effectively cements his idea that such kinds of dictatorship can ruin the family, especially, the wife. Foreshadowing is used in the story to prepare the reader for the outcome and also to predict the ending of the story. Her work, therefore, is an outward revolution against male supremacy, the theme cutting across all paragraphs in the story and the reason behind Louise's death (Call, 5). Since then, the state of women has changed. Women can have executive positions and make their voice heard through voting, a dynamic shift from the story's time. The culture of male dominion and female repression is far gone and equality is the order of the day.

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