A Formalist Approach to “The Story of an Hour”

Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” is filled with little surprises. She sets the reader in one direction with a specific image, and then startles you with a change of direction. Our initial look at the protagonist of the story is one of a delicate woman, easily harmed. “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 1894). The writer cleverly does two things in this opening line that will be used later in the story to surprise the reader. The first is creating an image of a delicate woman. The second is making us aware she has a heart condition. We are drawn in immediately by the news that she is about to be informed she is a widow. The use of surprise and plot intrigue is clearly evident in this short story, lending it to be easily observed from a formalist approach. Our textbook states: “This approach is most widely used in literary comparison and criticism; it focuses on the form and development of the literary work itself” (Clugston, 2010). Chapter 16.2 of our text asks why is the plot intriguing? Did surprise occur? The surprise twists in this short story are what make it stand out, and what makes the piece memorable. The first sentence of the story will come back to haunt the reader in a short while, with a surprise ending to the story. This story suits the formalist approach as it is filled with surprise twists.

After hearing of her husband’s death, the woman reacts strongly: “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself, she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow” (Chopin 1894). With these lines the image of an exceptionally grief-stricken widow comes to mind. The reader sees the utter collapse of this woman, wildly thrashing in grief, and then removing herself to grieve alone. She goes upstairs and sits by a window, staring at the spring scene budding below her. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 1894).  To the reader, this image of budding spring contrasts deeply with the image of a weeping widow, facing an empty life and dealing with death instead of the spring of life. Chopin writes about the spring scene, a metaphor for life, with its blue sky and bird song.

As we are led into this image of life and contrasting death, Chopin begins leading us to our first surprise. She uses a foreshadowing technique to keep us interested: “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air” (Chopin 1894). The reader feels a foreboding, still the feeling of death lingers, and we expect bad news. The first surprise is striking. We are awaiting disaster, yet the young widow, with her unlined face streaming tears feels released “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: free, free, free!” (Chopin 1894). The reader is left aghast. 

Chopin describes an ordinary love between husband and wife. The widow will “weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (Chopin 1894).

As a reader, I was shocked at this turn of events, yet accepted this statement that she loved him, yet felt released. As Chopin continues to write descriptively about the widow’s reaction to her husband’s death, this sympathy waned somewhat. The widow is really truly elated at the prospect of widowhood. To add a bit of historical perspective here, one could look at the author’s own history of widowhood and independence, and occasional “scandalous” writing. One of her novels, “The Awakening” was criticized because it dealt with a woman’s strength despite her adulterous life, and Chopin often wrote about her personal quest for freedom (Clugston, 2010). The content and message of “The Awakening” caused a stir in local society, and Chopin was denied admission into the St. Louis Fine Art Club after its publication. In the remaining short five years of her life she wrote only a few short stories (Wyatt 1995).

The ending of the story contains the final surprise. After the reader is completely aware of the widow’s elation at her sudden freedom, even despite having loved her husband, he walks in the front door very much alive. The widow drops dead at the sight of him. “When the doctors came, they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills” (Chopin 1894). This is the final irony and twist in this short interesting story. Esther Lombardi in her article, “How to Become a Critical Reader” states: “Consider the title. What does it tell you about what the book, essay, or literary work is about?” (Lombardi).  “The Story of an Hour” is filled with twists and plot intrigue, describing the reality of what one-hour can hold in the course of life’s surprise ups and downs. Kate Chopin does a wonderful job of manipulating the story to mirror the unexpected events that can occur at any time in our lives.

References

Chopin, K. (n.d.). "The Story of an Hour". Virginia Commonwealth University. Retrieved September 18, 2013, from http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/

Clugston, W. (2010). Responding to Literary Experience, Literary Criticism: A Brief Overview. Journey into Literature (pp. Ch 2, Ch 16). San Diego CA: Bridgepoint Education Inc.

Lombardi, E. (n.d.). How to Become a Critical Reader . Books & Literature Classics. Retrieved from http://classiclit.about.com/od/forstudents/ht/aa_criticalread.htm

Wyatt, N. (n.d.). Biography of Kate Chopin. Virginia Commonwealth University. Retrieved from http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/katebio.html