The story of an Hour analysis

The story of an Hour

The text under analysis belongs to fiction. Genre is a short story – story is only 3 pages long and there is only 1 plot line. Likewise, the story covers only one hour in Louise Mallard’s life—from the moment she learns of her husband’s death to the moment he unexpectedly returns alive.

The text belongs to aesthetic sphere of communication.

The main functions of the text are expressive and emotive – it tries to move people with long descriptions of thoughts and feelings.

The type of thinking reflected in the text is figurative.

The form of the text is mixed – but there are not many dialogues that express the relationship between the characters.

The abstract has 3 episodes: introduction is breaking the news to the wife; climax is her understanding that she is free and denouement is her husband returning and her death.

Paragraphs are long, sentences are long too, full of description. The story is filled with figurative language that raise readers' enjoyment of the story and helps them better understand Mrs. Mallard's actions and emotions. E.g., Josephine tells Mrs. Mallard of her husband's death in “broken sentences” and with “veiled hints.” Mrs. Mallard responds with a “storm of grief.” These images are both metaphoric and vivid [ˈvɪvɪd], and they enhance [ɪnˈhɑːns] our experience of the story, helping us picture the scenes and words contained there. Mrs. Mallard is “haunted” by “physical exhaustion,” as she sinks into her chair. The metaphor helps us imagine Mrs. Mallard's pale face and weak limbs as we envision exhaustion wrapping around her like a ghostly cloud. Mrs. Mallard sobs quietly “as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.” This simile shows us that Mrs. Mallard is in a dream-like state, that she feels detached from the world around her.

The number of characters is 5 – there is 1 main character and 3 background characters – her sister, the friend of the husband and the husband itself, and the doctors. The narrator describes Mrs. Mallard, physically, as "young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength" (8). In other words, she's got youth on her side; she's pretty; and usually, it seems like, pretty placid. The narrator says that the "lines" of Mrs. Mallard's face indicate that she's keeping a lot of stuff inside, or that she's full of "repression." Mrs. Mallard describes her husband as always being nice to her and seeming full of love. And the other characters try to take care of Mrs. Mallard, rather than concentrating on their own feelings.

The literary trend of the text (as revealed in the denouement) is realistic.

The text is told by the author who knows everything – it is revealed in the lack of dialogues and long descriptions of feelings from the 3rd person view. The story was written in the late 19th century. General tone of the story is ironic.

The leading theme of the text passage is the sense of freedom and identity that comes to a nineteenth century woman, known as Mrs. Mallard, when she learns that her husband has died.

The main theme is harsh irony on dramatization of circumstances. The scene is set in spring of late 19th century. There is flashback in this story, that the action took place in the 19th century, when

women didn’t have so many rights and freedoms. The main idea of the text passage is to realistically and sarcastically reveal the problems in marriage. I find this text interesting and harsh. The truth of unhappy marriage is revealed in a matter-of-fact.

The conclusion that one can reach, based on the themes of the story, is that the institution of marriage can all too often be a prison, especially for women, who can easily find themselves under the thumb of their husbands.