Imagery in "Story of an Hour"

 "No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window."

This bit of imagery is especially important to the story because it shows how purposeful the author was in her language. She clearly uses the phrase "elixir of life" to juxtapose the husband's sudden death, and how the main character becomes alive in the aftermath. 

"It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long."

At this point, the author revealed bits about Josephine's life and marriage, which all correspond with the feelings she eventually had after her husband's death. The imagery highlights just how much she was beginning to look forward to tomorrow, when before it seemed like a death sentence.

"But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air."

This bit of imagery is important because it shows how life, almost, is coming back to her in the face of her husband's death. Everything around her suddenly seemed more real than it had been during her marriage. It also mirrors the symptoms of a heart attack, heightened senses being one of them; so this may have been the author's way of foreshadowing her heart attack. 

"And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome."

In this paragraph, Mrs. Mallard is battling in her mind the relief she feels from her husband's death and the obvious sadness that is also present in his passing. Her joy, however, won in the end. And this imagery showcases that by showing the way she is preparing for her new life, by literally spreading her arms open for it. 

"It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella."

This final bit of imagery feels especially important to the story considering the use of language. The author's use of the word "composedly," seems a deliberate way to juxtapose what Mrs. Mallard was feeling at the idea of her husband's death. His nature may also be a reflection of what the marriage was between the two of them, and how the idea of the opposite is what gave Mrs. Mallard life. 

The question this story leaves in my mind is how the husband will potentially react to his wife's passing.