Essay On Mrs. Mallard In Kate Chopin's Story Of An Hour

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard suffers from a life-threatening heart condition. Her sister, Josephine, and her husband’s close friend, Mr. Richards carefully break the news of her husband’s passing to her. Brentley Mallard was believed to have died in a devasting train accident. Chopin gives little detail about the Mallard’s lives and marriage. This allows the reader to use their imagination and draw their own opinions, which will be different from person to person because of their past experiences. Based on my life experiences, I understand and relate to Mrs. Mallard’s character, but I also feel empathy for her. First, “The Story of an Hour” takes place during the nineteenth century. During this time, women had very

She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin 547). These feelings quickly transform into a sense of freedom, which she has desired for a while: “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips… ‘free, free, free!’ The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (548). When Mrs. Mallard goes upstairs, she looks out an open window: “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her. There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair” (547). This window represents her newfound freedom and her future without Mr. Mallard. From the window, she sees “…the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life…delicious breath of rain in the air…a peddler crying his wares…patches of blue sky showing…” (547). It is as if she is seeing everything differently and in a new light. The window shows her a