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Story of an Hour

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“Story of an Hour.” By Kate Chopin
Mrs. Mallard is a young woman who has been informed that her husband has been killed in a train accident. Her husband’s friend, Richards, delivered the news after thinking that the news was indeed true, due to the information of two separate sources. Knowing that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, her sister Josephine and Richards attempt to deliver the news with as little trauma as possible.
Despite their efforts, the news immediately causes her obvious grief, and she excuses herself to the privacy of her room. Sitting in a chair in her room, the new widow finds herself looking out the window at the lovely spring day. Outside, life continues normally and seems the same, while inside; Mrs. Mallard is facing a big life change.
“There was something coming to her….”(Hawthorne). This partial sentence in the story hints of the realization of her freedom from her husband was starting to set in.
“No; drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window (Hawthorne).” Drinking in a very elixir of life is suggestive of a renewal or new way of life.
Upon accepting, and welcoming her new found “freedom”, Mrs. Mallard leaves her room, and upon descending the stairs sees her undead husband walking through the door. This unexpected turn of events leads to her death, and all assume that she died from the joy of seeing her husband alive.
In conclusion, there is a lot of emotion packed into this little story. Mrs. Mallard lived in an era in which women married out of necessity, and were usually considered unequal to men. While she admits that her husband was kind to her, her reaction hints of the repression that was common for the time. Initially she is sad, but also views his death as a way to be free of his control, and the possibilities that may come with that.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Literature to Go - A&P. 1st ed.

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