The Story of an Hour: Thesis #2

The tactile imagery used by Chopin in The Story of an Hour can best be summed up by the "monstrous joy that held her". Although she felt brief pain over the loss of her husband "she had loved - Sometimes", she looked "beyond that bitter moment" to the days that would "belong to her absolutely". Her marriage was dark and dry and the death of Brently brought about "patches of blue sky's" that she could not keep away, and a "delicious breath" of life that could not be resisted. Mrs. Mallard was completely powerless to the freedom that was approaching her, and it was not until she "abandoned herself" that she had gained her freedom of body and soul. The author sheds light on the affliction of will the woman during this time period were experiencing in relation to their husbands. She was free to taste of the "elixir of life" she thought she never again would, an elixir of "joy" that Killed.