Speech and Sound in Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour”

January 23, 2018

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Louise’s agency in realizing and expressing her true emotions manifests itself through both the presence and absence of sound. Using syntax, punctuation, and word choice, Chopin characterizes the place of Mrs. Mallard’s emotional awakening as a melodic, aural space in which she has a voice. By contrast, when she is in the presence of other people and forced to assume the role of a grieving wife, she is unable to speak, and sound becomes broken and limited. This produces a ‘single effect’ suggesting that society’s expectations of women effectively render them mute and the world flawed.

Louise’s inability to vocalize her internal desire for freedom weaves itself into her outer world through the total breakdown of speech and sound. Richards does not hear news of Brently Mallard’s death, he “receives intelligence” of it while “in the newspaper office” and confirms its false “truth” via telegram (157). Both these communication mediums are impersonal, textual, and without sound (the Greek root-word ‘tele’ literally means ‘at a distance’) immediately establishing Louise’s outer world as one defined by distance and silence, where people are unable to speak directly to one another or communicate truth. When Josephine gives Ms. Mallard news of her husband’s death, she does so through “broken sentences, veiled hints, half-concealing” (157). This line is “broken” up by commas, while the verb “half-concealing” is not attached to any noun. Josephine’s speech is fragmented. She is unable to convey the full truth of what she is saying, mirroring Louise’s own internal conflict. Chopin writes that Louise “did not hear the story [of her husband’s death] as other women have heard the same,” reinforcing the idea that her internal world is completely out of tune with the one around her (157). During this exchange, Richards is said to be “near her,” playing on the similar sound of ‘hear her,’ but of course, he is unable to (157). In fact, there are no direct dialogue attributions for the first ten paragraphs—nearly half the story. Louise cannot hear or be heard.

However, as soon as she exits that space into one free from the gaze and expectations of society, Louise is flooded with sound. Looking through her bedroom window, she does not immediately take note of the sky or clouds. Instead, she hears the “breath” of rain, a peddler “crying” his wares, birds “twittering” in the eaves, and the “notes of a distant song” rising through the window to meet her (157). Louise’s emotional awakening manifests itself through clear, melodious sound—in stark contrast to the broken communication of before. With her husband’s death, she no longer has to be silent. Her inner world is attempting to “[reach] out to her through the sounds,” to manifest itself physically (157). It comes to “possess” her, forcing her “bosom” to rise and fall, forcing her to exhale, to give way to voice, until finally “under her breath” she says, “‘free, free, free!’” (157). Just as Louise comes to an understanding of her true internal feelings, she is given a voice within the story: direct dialogue attribution through punctuation. She soon imagines a “procession of years to come,” (158) implying a parade or marching band whose rhythm is realized through the “beat” of her physical “pulse,” carrying her off into a future of united mind and body (157).

However, the aural space that Louise creates for herself collapses as soon as her sister’s sound—a call from the society which imagines her as something she is not—intrudes through the open keyhole. After she “breathes” one quick prayer to carry herself back into that other silent space, there are no more quotations or clear dialogue (158). The only reference to sound in the last four paragraphs is Josephine’s “cry,” mirroring Louise’s weeping at the beginning of the story, suggesting that the only sounds women can manifest in the presence of men are ones of shock and pain (158). At her husband’s entrance into the story, the reader loses all access to Louise’s internal thoughts. The oppressive outer world overtakes the influence of her inner world, preventing her from vocalising the reason for her shock. The final irony of the story is that someone instead speaks for her. The doctors “said” —no quotation marks— “that she died ... of joy” (158). This is completely consistent with the society experienced by an oppressed Louise at the beginning of the story, in which people are unable to use speech to communicate truth.

The combined influence of all these factors work to realize Chopin’s ‘single effect’ as described in the introduction: the roles and expectations women are forced to enact in society silence them from expressing their true needs and feelings, effectively rendering them mute. The existence of the story in its written form is a testament to that. While this essay is concerned with sound and speech, the story itself is textual. Chopin lived in a society where women had no real voice in public life, and her only recourse was to write stories. Like Louise, she could not easily speak out to make her feelings known, and like Louise, she suffered in the face of a world unwilling to hear them.