Book1

Ken Tuzzi   English Mrs. Grabbish “The Story of an Hour” In short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author addresses the mistreatment of women in society and the joy of being free from a less than loving marriage. The main character (Mrs. Mallard) displays grief and cries when she is told of her husband’s sudden death in a train accident. A few minutes later Mrs. Mallard wants to go to her room alone. In her room she starts noticing, “the trees aquiver with a new life, the delicious breath of rain was in the air”, all signs that she is realizing how her marriage had stiffelled the joy of life she had at one time, but she had lost it during her marriage. She now has hope that life will be hers to live. She will not have to “bend her will” ever again. Proving that in her case freedom is more important than love.   After learning of her husband’s death Mrs. Mallard, “wept with wild abandonment in her sisters’ arms”, at this point she may be grieving her husband’s death, or is she just weeping at the shock of his sudden demise? When she goes to her room alone it starts to become clear that she is taken back by her husband’s death but her thoughts are more on her future. She states “free, free, free”; she is free at last. At first it is a “subtle and elusive feeling” that she felt. Gradually the felling crept from the sky reaching toward her through the scents, the colors, the sounds that filled the air, she is realizing that her husband’s death is the beginning of her life. A life free from “bending her will” to suit his, free from being treated as less of a person. She was no longer Mrs. Mallard; she was Louise again!! Her identity was no longer linked to who her husband was. She was an individual again. Her husband’s death is the beginning of her life. An unexpected chance to live the way she wanted. Now she knows why she suddenly noticed “the trees aquiver with a new spring life” and the smells of spring, and all the simple...