A Brief Analysis of “Rooms” in The Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour is one of the most famous short stories of Kate Chopin. The protagonist， Louise， is a woman who tried to free herself from the limited space and found herself in one hour. The rooms are the most important symbols in The Story of an Hour. With the shift of space between room and living room， the identity of protagonist changed from Mrs. Mallard to Louise. She closed herself in the room where caused her great emotional changes， feeling the inner power from freedom. At first， through the window in this room， Mrs. Mallard behold the most ordinary scenes like the new spring life in lively square and the blue sky with clouds， which hint her aspiration for outside world. The glimpse of the outside scenes also reflects her aspiration for freedom， and then suddenly there was a kind of epiphany coming to her mind. When she realized she had already got rid of the bondage of the marriage， her individual consciousness was awakened. In this room， she felt that her “id” was awakening. She didnt belong to anyone but herself. It is the room that provides her the possibility to be herself， rather than to play like a wife with extreme sadness. Therefore， I believe the room symbolizes a peaceful and free world she is yearning for. Also， the room is the spiritual shelter for her to avoid the grim reality.

When she walked out of the room， she looks like a goddess of Victory. But at the moment she saw her husband， she realized her husband would get her stuck in the shackle of marriage again. Therefore， there is a conflict between the inside room and outside living room. The writer deliberately arranged all the characters come cross in the living room. Also， the living room witnesses this storys beginning， climax， conflicts and ending together. This is not a coincidence. If the inside room represents the world she is yearning for， the living room means another fierce world she has to face. At the beginning， when she was in the living room， we could see her deep grief at her husbands death. This is because crying for her husbands death is the social custom she has to observe. But when she saw her husband again， she changed from the goddess of victory to a woman who lost her life forever. Here， the facts illustrated that the outside living room means the secular society where she had been. In that patriarchal society， all her aspiration for freedom and her free wills were smashed by the social custom， more specifically， the marriage. When the conflicts in these two worlds came to the extreme point， she cant stand the pressure， then died.

As far as I am concerned， we cannot judge whether their marriage is happy or not， but what we can confirm is that her husband provides her the material security. In this way， Mrs. Mallard is more like a bird kept by her husband in the cage. When the bird in the cage feel the freedom from the outside world， what would it choose？ Here， I thought this issue should be considered by all the human beings， not only by Mrs. Mallard. Maybe we need to communicate with the world that we are in or we try our best to pursue a balanced state of these two different “rooms.” But Mrs. Mallard is too vulnerable to bear the whole stuff， not only in body but also in her will. She didnt consider her situations in a rational way. The narrator said she died of joy， which is not responsible for the truth. Personally speaking， she is died of the sudden loss of the free life that she imagined in her mind. But what if her husband really died， she got rid of the bondage from the society bondage. Its hard to imagine what will happen to her. Sometimes， is the complete freedom a good thing？ I dont think so. I really love the open ending designed by the author. It provides you enough space to explore kinds of answers. People are complicate animals. Therefore， any changing characters in literary works is worthy to analyze in every perspective.

Work cited

Chopin， Kate： “The Story of an Hour.” Literature： An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 6th Compact edition， Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig. Boston： Pearson. 2015. 306-308. Print.

【作者簡介】李瑤（1995.06-），女，漢族，河南林州人，首都師范大學外國語學院，研究生在讀，本科，研究方向：十九二十世紀英國文學。