Mrs. Mallard's Point-Of-View
When reading a story, the point-of-view makes the biggest difference in how the reader comprehends the true meaning of the work. Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is told in third-person limited, restricting the point-of-view (most of the time) to the main character Mrs. Mallard. Throughout Chopin’s short story, we (as the readers) get a sense that Mrs. Mallard is a rather emotional individual after the apparent death of her husband, Brently, in a railroad disaster detailed at the beginning of the story. It’s at this point in the short story that the use of a third-person limited point-of-view allows the readers to experience what Mrs. Mallard is feeling after hearing the news from her sister Josephine. Chopin writes “she [Mrs. Mallard] wept
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Mallard retreats to her room and sits “… with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dream” (Chopin 653). Mrs. Mallard’s increasing sobbing over the death of Brently is made apparent to the reader (in third-person) because the effect is that much more intensified when reading about how much the sobbing represents a “storm of grief” (Chopin 653) to Mrs. Mallard. What’s even more stimulating about how the story is told in third-person is how the sudden change of heart of Mrs. Mallard becomes ostensible to the readers when Mrs. Mallard has a change of heart (literally). We see this when Chopin describes the sense of freedom that the window gives Mrs. Mallard when Mrs. Mallard emphatically states “… under her breath: free, free, free!” (Chopin 654). This shows that even though Mrs. Mallard is still sobbing within the confines of her room, the window that Mrs. Mallard is exposed to makes her feel almost alive for the first time in her life. More importantly, Mrs. Mallard shows the sense of freedom that she could have never experienced while being with her husband. It’s not until the end of story that we find that this freedom that Mrs. Mallard longs to have is something that can show what the mind wants, but the heart cannot
Mallard retreats to her room and sits “… with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dream” (Chopin 653). Mrs. Mallard’s increasing sobbing over the death of Brently is made apparent to the reader (in third-person) because the effect is that much more intensified when reading about how much the sobbing represents a “storm of grief” (Chopin 653) to Mrs. Mallard. What’s even more stimulating about how the story is told in third-person is how the sudden change of heart of Mrs. Mallard becomes ostensible to the readers when Mrs. Mallard has a change of heart (literally). We see this when Chopin describes the sense of freedom that the window gives Mrs. Mallard when Mrs. Mallard emphatically states “… under her breath: free, free, free!” (Chopin 654). This shows that even though Mrs. Mallard is still sobbing within the confines of her room, the window that Mrs. Mallard is exposed to makes her feel almost alive for the first time in her life. More importantly, Mrs. Mallard shows the sense of freedom that she could have never experienced while being with her husband. It’s not until the end of story that we find that this freedom that Mrs. Mallard longs to have is something that can show what the mind wants, but the heart cannot