Passion Awry
Short Essay on “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin
This was a well-written narrative chronicling an hour in the life of a young woman in which she faced a plethora of emotions. Though the piece was written just prior to the last century, certain passions and social acceptance appeared to the reader as timeless rejoinders; some things never change in the realm of love. However, the unpredictable outcome of this story left the reader to search her own morals and make her own assumptions as to the foundation of the story’s conclusion, regardless of the essence of time.
The author led us through the young woman’s thought processes by creating intimate scenarios that the reader could feel familiar. The initiation of health information regarding the young woman’s heart affliction was an innocent warning to her fragility potential. Furthermore, while reserving judgment upon the woman’s psyche, the author portrayed each emotional element as unceremoniously human. Written with a gentle matter-of-factness, the reader was led through this “hour” with little admonishment towards the unexpected conclusion.
The young woman experienced the assumed death of her spouse by exuding grief, an appropriate and accepted emotion for the circumstance. Liquidly moving us from her grief into a state of suspended emotions, the author’s implant of the proverbial “life goes on” was warmly descriptive. The renaissance of nature delicately filled our visual canvases as the author painted the dawning of a new day
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as the dawning of a new realization to this young woman. For a moment, the simile of the woman’s sobs to a child who has cried itself to sleep softened the reader’s view of the woman and stirred recognizable feelings of empathy. However, the admittance of the woman’s feelings of freedom incited mixed emotions due to the “normal” socially accepted thoughts for those circumstances being replaced with the woman’s very realistic thoughts of personal...