Pick out at least five key phrases in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour."

These are some phrases that advance the central theme of
the story, that of the oppressive position women were forced to accept in
nineteenth-century marriages.

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"She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose
lines bespoke
repression..."

The author
does not spend a lot of time describing Mrs. Mallard's physical appearance. It is
significant that "repression" is one of the few words she chooses to describe
her.

"She was
beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was
striving to beat it back with her
will..."

The realization of
her situation and her longing for freedom are taboo during her time, and Mrs. Mallard
does her utmost to prevent herself from acknowledging these inclinations in herself,
knowing they can lead only to destruction.

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"She would live for herself. There would be no
powerful will bending
hers..."

Women are subjugated
by the will of their husbands. What they want is not important; it is what the man wants
that takes precedence during these times. With the removal of her husband, Mrs. Mallard
will be able to experience a freedom which has long been denied
her.

"What
could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion
which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her
being!"

Self-realization is
more important even than love by Mrs. Mallard; it is
all-consuming.

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

Mrs. Mallard's married
life was so odious to her that she did not feel it was worth living. This was true even
though her husband was a kind man; the impulse towards self-realization inside herself
was that strong.

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"...she had died of heart disease - of joy that
kills."

This statement has
multiple meanings. "Heart disease" refers to Mrs. Mallard's physical ailment as well as
to her longing. The "joy that kills" is the sense of identity and freedom she craves; in
the society and times she lives in, it is a forbidden thing that can only result
in ruin.