It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." The beating of her pulse and blood coursing through her body are examples of kinesthetic imagery that help convey the heightened state in which this epiphany about personal freedom takes hold of her. The adjective "feverish" means that something is marked by intense emotion, which applies in this context. For heaven's sake open the door.". Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. We don’t find out her name is Louise until about ¾ of the way through when Josephine is begging her to come out of her room. So even if her relationship with her husband had forced her down a path that was good for her, a path that she found agreeable or fulfilling, it wouldn’t matter. The doctor's stated cause of Louise’s death, “the joy that kills” was more likely a shocking disappointment that killed. She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. All of these examples of imagery suggest a moment of positive change that seems at odds with the news Louise has just received. She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.
This irony shows that Louise has died misunderstood by the people around her. They saw her as fragile and vulnerable, which determined the language and tone of the story. She would have no one follow her. The adjective "exalted" means that Louise's perception is of a higher order, or very clear and noble. When referring to thoughts, the verb phrase "to run riot" means that one's "fancy," or "imagination," is rapidly considering all possibilities without process or moderation. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. This is Louise's moment of renewal. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. "Louise, open the door! The “delicious breath of rain” is both an olfactory and gustatory image evoking the smell or “taste” of rain in the air. This identifies the turning point in her attitude.
Indeed, the joy that Louise feels over this freedom is so strong that the sudden loss of it, seeing her husband walk through the door, is too much for her heart—figuratively and literally—to take. This theme has to be examined in the context of when it was written. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. This ending serves as an example of situational irony. What matters is the freedom, which she describes as her own “strongest impulse.”, The em dash serves many functions in writing. The doctors believe that Louise has died of joy, that she was so happily surprised by the arrival of her husband that she had a heart attack.
While in a stupor, a thought starts coming to her that makes her afraid. Louise is genuinely saddened by her husband’s death, and she shows this openly. There are other things that are only ironic in hindsight, such as: When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills. Chopin is showing how deeply the lack of freedom, the bending herself to her husband’s will, had troubled Louise. Louise continues her moment of epiphany with a strong condemnation of societal expectations.