“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!” The vacant stare and the look of terror had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, the coursing blood warned and relaxed every inch of her body.”
1. Story of an Hour
2. Kate Chopin
3. In this passage Louise alone in her room begins to realize that she is now an independent woman after her husband’s death.  This realization excites her.  By the excitement of this joy her heart starts beating fast and she feels relaxed and relieved to be free and ready to welcome a new beginning.
4. Chopin suggests that all marriages, even the kindest ones, are inherently oppressive. Louise, who readily admits that her husband was kind and loving, nonetheless feels joy when she believes that he has died. In some marriages independence is a forbidden pleasure that can be imagined only privately. Chopin shows us the oppressiveness of all marriages, which by their nature rob people of their independence.
