A Book Report on the Story of an Hour
The story ,set in the house of Mr Mallard, unfolds a one-hour span of life，from spiritually reborn to physically death, of Ms Mallard.
Concerned with Ms Mallard’ affliction of heart trouble, great care was taken by her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richard ,who worked in the newspaper office and double-checked the truth when the news of Mr. Mallard’ death arrived, before they broke to her this grievous news . Hit by the thunderbolt head-on, she locked herself in the bedroom upstairs after a conventional keening ，slumping into her chair , gazing outside the window and sobbing. A spring sight and patches of sky escaping from piles of clouds filtered through the window.
Suddenly, an elusive hint of euphoria that she was free occurred to her even though she was frightened by the thought herself and striving to beat it back at first. Hard as she restrained the vicious thought, she failed and succumbed to it at the thought of gaining freedom in soul and body and not needing to compromising to the public opinion upon marriage .
Worried about Ms Mallard, Josephine pounded upon her sister’s door to make sure she was not doing something ill. Contradict with Josephine’s anxiety, Ms Mallard was holding a pleasant hope towards her coming free future with no one disturbing her . But Brantley Mallard –her “dead” husband appeared at the door when she descending downstairs with her sister. It actually was a mix-up. Unbearable the whirlwind of ups and downs, Ms Mallard was knocked down by a sudden heart disease which the doctor diagnosed as “of joy that kills”.
Ms Mallard is a weak–will housewife who depresses her strong desire to control her destiny. Dominated by her husband, she suffered constant stress which may probably cause her heart disease. And it’s such disease that deprived her life at the sight of her husband’s return and in thought of the loss of the freedom within grasp and of that she had to go back to the old life again. Some say that Chopin tricked the readers with an unexpected ending, however, she initially inform us of Ms Mallard’s heart condition as a promise to the doom , but along with the developments of the story we almost forget it until the end the story when we finally understand Chopin’s excellent use of foreshadowing. Outwardly , it seems quite a paradox that death is inevitably associated with dead seasons while Mr. Mallard’s supposed death is set in spring , after a paragraph or two we begin to realize that the symbolism lies in the imagery of the nature. As Ms Mallard looked outside, the freshly fallen rain and the newly grown trees came into view, implying her renewal and rebirth. The clouds, a metaphor for the shadows hovering her agony marriage, began to part and make way for a fresh start. All these are symbols of her new-sprung freedom. But her first reaction was to restrain such feeling because the then social convention would pour scorns on this criminal-like thought, which rightly explain why she wept at once even though what happened might be what she had long wished ------she had to act in a typical way women in that period would do in the presence of her sister and her husband’s best friend, to win the public sympathy. This really counts on an amazing irony!
The story of an hour unveils in half concealing the inequality between men and women in late 19th century where women are depressed under the man-oriented society ,and the heroine well reflects the typical image of woman in that period of time. It also exemplified Chopin’s beliefs about women’s roles in marriage and feminine identity. Personally, I’m quite fond of this delicate story. A few lines weave a full picture of a woman’s whole life, simple but profound.