A Life Not Lived

Candy Russell

Mr. Graham

Eng. 1023

13 Feb. 2013

A Life Not Lived

She wasted her life, so why would she not waste death? Life should be lived to its fullest extent, even when it is difficult to do so. Life is an experience so many individuals take for granted. It is easy to assume that tomorrow is a right and not a privilege. Although reality has proven time and time again, life is a gift that can be taken away in an instant. Kate Chopin's short story "Story of an Hour" illustrates this valuable lesson through the story's main character, Louis Mallard. Mrs. Mallard, who is a woman repressed and burdened with heart trouble, is gently, given the news of her husband's death. Her immediate reaction was not of disbelief but that of loneliness. She goes to her bedroom alone, but instead of continuing to cry, she sits and stares out her window at the lovely spring day. Incapable of stopping it from coming, the word "free" escaped from under her breath; taken over with uncontrollable feeling she echoes it over and over again. Mrs. Mallard now with her new awareness to the joy of living is able to see beyond her grief over a long life suddenly looks forward to all the days to come. Her newborn freedom gives her life meaning, but ultimately takes her life. The story reveals only one hour of Mrs. Mallard's life beginning once learning of her husband's death to the moment he ironically returns home alive where Mrs. Mallard dies instantaneously upon seeing him. Through language, style, and tone Chopin conveys the theme of life that life is not lost by dying, but life is lost by never experiencing it.

Chopin utilizes symbolism to communicate the theme of life that is lost by never experiencing it. In the leading line the reader is made aware of Mrs. Mallard's heart condition;, "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death"(Chopin 115). Mrs. Mallard's "heart trouble" is far more significant than her just being unhealthy. Hearts are frequently used to symbolize love and emotion, or lack of. The "heart trouble" that affects Mrs. Mallard is both a physical and symbolic condition that signifies her disappointment within her marriage and unhappiness with her life. The disappointment she goes through life hording towards her marriage is directly connected to her unhappiness. The physical toll from her life can almost be seen in her physical description. She is described as "...young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength" (115). This Indicating Mrs. Mallard represses many of the feelings she has about her life instead of reaching out to better her circumstances. The lines that "bespoke repression" allow the reader to see the strain Mrs. Mallard bears due to feeling suffocated by the absence of independence and happiness in her life. This Further promotes her friends and family to see her as someone sick and delicate. However, the mention of her "certain strength" suggests she still possesses a strong will for life.

Chopin subsequently utilizes language and style through the symbolism of death to communicate the theme of life that is not lost by dying. Because of Mrs. Mallard's heart trouble the constant anxiety of death seems to consume the Mallards' house household. Even news of death is taken to Mrs. Mallard with caution. Fearing that if given the wrong way could be fatal Louise's sister, Josephine, ". . . told her in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richard was there, too. . . [He] had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message" (115). Mrs. Mallard's daily life is not exposed to the reader directly; although the assertion can be made that Mrs. Mallard is protected against any potential shock from the "great care" that is taken to give the "sad message" of her husband's death. This proposing that even on ordinary day's friends and loved ones guard Mrs. Mallard from any unintended excitement that could lead to her demise; confining her to a dulling