The Story of an Hour

Kate Chopin's use of imagery in the fifth and sixth paragraphs of The Story of an Hour gave me the impression that Mrs. Mallard was seeing the world through new eyes and was noticing things that she had not before. Chopin writes, "[T]he tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life" (198). Later in the story we learn that the main character feels much the same way after she learn about the supposed death of her husband. In the seventh paragraph Chopin writes that the look in Mrs. Mallards eyes "indicated a suspension of intelligent thought" (198). When I read this I imaged her staring off into space, as we would say today. I think the line from paragraph eleven "The vacant state and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright," (Chopin 198) would have been the opposite of staring off into space. The three words that show the story's significance are "Free, free, free" (Chopin 198). When I read them they had such impact. Without them the story would read very different.