Elias Mehrzai
Mr. McFarlin
Honors English 10A, Period 5
05 October 2014
Controlling Relationships is what Holds Back One’s Dreams Anthony Robbins once said that “the quality of your life is the quality of your relationships”. Similarly, in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, a woman whose husband has recently passed away does not grieve as she would be expected to. Mr. Mallard, her husband, dies in an accident, and instead of becoming depressed Mrs. Mallard feels as sense of freedom not present before she had been widowed. It turns out that her husband had not actually died, and when the news of this reaches Mrs. Mallard, she dies. Chopin uses imagery of nature and irony to convey that being bound to a controlling spouse will lead to hate and a miserable life. The natural imagery depicts that losing a controlling spouse can give one's freedom and happiness. When Mrs. Mallard, Louise, locks herself in her room she sees “patches of blue sky showing… through clouds… facing her window”. The blue sky juxtaposes the clouds so that in a time of sadness, represented by the clouds, she was happy, represented by the blue sky. Her sadness was being pushed away by the sky, releasing her and giving her freedom. Also while looking out the window she sees “the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life”. Whit the death of her husband, she begins a new and happier life. “Aquiver” suggests that life does not stop for a person; it goes on without noticing. People should not stop their lives because of the death of another, since these ideologies will just hold one back. Getting out of a controlling relationship sets the soul free and one can live without any boundaries. Chopin uses irony to demonstrate that a spouse restraining one always leads to a miserable life. Through the loss of the man that controlled her life, Louise is not “[making] [herself] ill” with grief, but instead she is drinking in the “very elixir of life.” Only after the death of her husband, Louise feels released from her imprisonment and rejuvenated. Through the juxtaposition of the archaic phrases “ill” and “elixir,” Chopin characterizes freedom as a method and means of escape from societal obligations and she is
