Story Of An Hour Analytical Essay

"The Story of an Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin, in 1894, about a woman with a heart condition who receives the news that her husband died in a train accident. While around her family, Mrs. Mallard seems upset, as a wife would about the sudden death of her husband, but once she is alone it seems as if some type of relieve rolls over her. Towards the end of the story the husband returns home alive showing the readers that Mr. Mallard is in fact not dead. Once Mrs. Mallard sees that her husband's death was not true she suddenly dies from what the doctor said was caused by heart disease. This leads to question their marriage and her happiness. This fiction story can interpreted in different ways and I would like to examine each
Mallard does not truly love her husband romantically? Chopin says in this story "and yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not" (Chopin). This would explain why she was still upset for her husband's death because she did care for him in some kind of way. Her relief came from realizing that she could move on and did not have to continue with a love that was not real. In this story it is not mentioned that they had kids together. This could also display that there may not have been much sexual relations between the Mallards and maybe they did not have a deep enough connection to want to have children together. During Mrs. Mallards time it wasn't unusual for people to marry just because that was what was socially expectable even if there was not a mutual love between the couple. Also Chopin makes it evident with the line "She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength" (Chopin) , that Mrs. Mallard was young, but throughout the story it seems as if Mrs. Mallard has been trapped in this marriage for most of her life. Could it just seem so long to her because this was an unhappy
Mallard's reaction of relief after hearing the news of her husbands death. "The Story of an Hour" was written in 1894. This was a time when women had a lot of pressure to give their husbands a happy home. Rarely did women work because they were made to stay home, raise the kids, clean the house and did not have much say otherwise. During this time period it was never okay for women to voice their opinions. Mrs. Mallard is only comfortable expressing how she really feels once she is her bedroom by herself. In the text it says "When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her." (Chopin) This might indicate that she felt trapped. She could not express who she is in her home because her husband lived there with her too. Maybe Mrs. Mallard's relief came from her feeling like she could finally have her own freedom now that her husband was gone. Another quote from the book I found that might indicate her feeling trapped would be "When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: “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" (Chopin). Here Chopin seems to be saying that Mrs.