The relevance of setting in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
In Kate Chopin’s story “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard is told that her husband died in a train accident. Mrs. Mallard goes upstairs all alone and while she is sitting in her room a feeling of freedom overwhelms her. The setting in “The Story of an Hour” is very important because the description of the view out of Mrs. Mallard’s window and the room she is sitting in reflect her feelings and emotions about her husband’s death.
The description of the view from Mrs. Mallard’s window suggests that she is pleased with the prospect of a future without her husband. Mrs. Mallard is sitting in her “comfortable, roomy armchair” in front of the window of which the view is described.
“She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.”
The tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life are a symbol for Mrs. Mallard’s new life. A new life without her husband, a life in which she will be free, a life in which she will live for herself. “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.” All these descriptions are positive and she is content with the fact that she will live for herself, this shows that she is pleased with the prospect of a future without her husband.
The view from Mrs. Mallard’s window and the noises she hears from outside symbolize freedom, the setting in this story substantiates that symbol. At first Mrs. Mallard does not really believe or know that she lost her husband and that therefore she is free.
“There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too...