Chopin Thesis Activity

Thesis #2: By contrasting images of life with those of death throughout "The Story of an Hour," Kate Chopin highlights the struggle of a person imprisoned by societal pressures and thereby kept from fully being alive.

One instance where Kate Chopin uses contrasting images of life and death to reveal how societal pressures can hinder one from being fully alive is through Mrs. Mallard's sister, Josephine. While Mrs. Mallard had locked herself in her room and "was drinking in the very elixir of life through that open window," Josephine feared that she was making herself ill. In actuality, Mrs. Mallard was experiencing “life” for the first time, as opposed to making herself sick as her sister feared. Another example is when Chopin write, “when the doctors came they said she had died of a heart disease- of joy that kills.” The doctors assumed that Mrs. Mallard was overjoyed that her husband was alive; however, hearing that her husband was alive, which meant she would no longer be free, caused her death.