I have been told that critics of literature and scholars of literature are 2 different things, and that i need to have scholarly views.
Yes, a critic helps people appreciate art and deeply understand it. Scholars have other ideas. For example, you might want to take the point of view of a sociologist and use Chopin's work as a commentary on the institution of marriage.
Oh, but now I see that you need a question based on literary techniques, like symbolism. Your question about what "new life of spring" represents in the story could be good, but is it too obvious? I don't know the story, I just know that it shows marriage to be an institution that thwarts women's empowerment. Maybe your question is great, but it will be best if you tackle a question nobody else seems to tackle.
I know for sure that if you search a large database you'll get a lot of professional journal articles about this story. It is a famous one.
I just got a lot of great results googling this: analysis "The Story of an Hour"
:-)
