Aslı ** ‘’VIEWPOINTS’’ The Story Of The Hour, by Kate Chopin, is about woman who struggles with oppression brought on by her husband and her secret desire for freedom. Mrs. Mallard doesn’t know how truly unhappy she is until she is told that he has died in train accident. The story is limited to a third-person point of view, but is not short on drama thanks to the structure and style of Chopin’s writing. Her theme of oppression is reveled by the irony of the story, in which she discovers a sense of freedom quickly after her husbands death. Chopin uses symbolism to emphasis this newly found feeling. The main character Mrs. Louise Mallard is a very easy to relate to. The structure and style that Chopin uses in The Story Of The Hour, is used to exaggerate the drama of what is taking place. She uses very short paragraphs the majority being only two to or three sentences a piece. The story is about the hour after Louise find out her husband is dead. It bring us quickly from a state of morning to a place where she realizes that she is “free” from the bondage of her husband. The structure of the story is reflects the intensity of emotions she exhibits. The length of the story leaves no room for a drawn out exposition, we shoot quickly from the that to the climax and end just as quickly after that. There is a lot of repetition through out the story, which she uses to emphasize the importance of certain points she makes. The word “open” is repeatedly used through out the story, “open window”(69) , “open square”(69). “opened and spread her arms out”(69) and many more. She also repeats the word “free”, "Free! Body and soul free!" (69). She also repeats phrases such as “might be long” like when she says “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” (69) What makes The story of the hour such compelling short story is Chopin’s use of irony. Mrs. Mallard loses her husband, and shortly after receiving the news she finds her self relieved, She whispers, “Free, free, free!”. (70) You would expect her to be in morning, instead she seams to be uplifted by the idea that she no longer has to cater to her husband’s desires , she can do as she pleases. The author explains it as a “monstrous joy that held her.”(70) There is also irony in the fact that her husband didn’t really die, “He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one.” (70) When Mr. Mallard walks through there door Mrs. Mallard is so shocked that it cause her already weak heart to stop. The doctors called it “joy that kills.” (70) The sense of irony that is used through out the story is what makes it so entertaining. One of the major themes of The Story Of An Hour is oppression brought on by marriage. When the story was written, in 1891, women were view as possessions. They were expected to cook, clean, have and care for children, as well as sever their husbands every whim. Women were not a loud to fulfill their own wants and their needs only came second to their husbands. Though it does not seem that that Mrs. Mallard husband was abusive since she describes his hands as kind. (70) Yet she hints that her husband had a powerful presence , which he used to forced his will on her. She says, :“There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women beleve they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.”, which is one of the ways she suggest he controlled her.(70) She goes on to say that it didn’t matter if he imposed his will for her benefit or not , “A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.” (70) She repeats the word “free” suggesting that, she is free from oppression when her husband died. (70) Chopin uses many different symbolic messages through out the story, many of which are in reference to the freedom Mrs. Mallard feels after find out about the death of her husband. “...the trees that was all aquiver with the new spring life.” This sentence took on new meaning after finishing the story, I believe the trees are symbolic of how Mrs. Mallard felt, she went from hopeless to feeling as if the world was her to explore . Like the tree part of her had died when she was married but now that her husband is dead she is once again full of life. Another symbol that us used to is the "patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window." (70) The patches of sky which were previously cover represent her emerging. She had said she had wished for a short life before but now she wish to live. In the very being of the story we learn that Mrs. Mallard had heart trouble this symbolizes her emotional heart problems related to marriage. She says, “And yet she had loved him sometimes. Often she had not.” (70) Though they were married Mrs. Mallard was not in love with her husband. When he is found to be alive it is her hear that kills her. The Story Of An Hour focus on the character Louise Mallard. She is a bright, independent woman, who we find out is also, “ young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength”. (70) We are told in the beginning of the story that, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” This leads be to believe she was not the same as other women in that era. Even though she acted the way a women should, she always deep down wanted more for her self she wanted to be free to live life they way she wanted to. Her self worth wasn’t entangled in her marriage, but rather in the women she wanted to be, "Free! Body and soul free!". (70) She is not a cruel person, she knows she will cry at her husbands funeral (70). Mrs. Mallard plays the role of the protagonist in this story. She is stuck in a unfulfilling marriage and yearning to be free. Mrs. Mallard has many traits of a heroine of this era. Her reaction to her husbands death makes her unlike other women in her position. In stead of becoming frighten, she embraces her new life with open arms. (70) Though Mr. Mallard doesn’t seem to be a bad guy, he is the antagonist in the story. He is the character that keeps Mrs. Mallard from living the life she dreams about. It is the very presents of Mr. Mallard, that ends killing his wife. We can only speculate that it was the though of having to live the life she once lead was the real cause of Mrs. Mallards death. Though The Story Of An Hour is very short, it is very powerful. I imagine that there were many women in the 1800’s that wondered what life would be like if there husbands weren’t around. Though Mrs. Mallard is treated as if she is weak because of her heart condition, she is strong in character. I think that even women of today’s world can relate to this to this story in in some way, which is why it has with stood the test of time.