ENG 113
Instructor Risch
“The Story of an Hour”
January 10, 2011
Donna Stevens
My initial response to the reading was how sad it must have been to be Mrs. Mallard. She was probably slightly happy in the marriage because the arrangement met most of her needs. Her physical needs were met because she had food, clothes and shelter. Her emotional needs were not met completely because she did not love Brently enough to dream of a future that included great things with him. This is where her problem lies. She was excited to think of a future that did not include Brently’s input or involvement. The author used the spring season references to mirror the new life that was blooming inside Mrs. Mallard. I was excited for Mrs. Mallard for her new found life and future. Like Mrs. Mallard, I was disappointed when Brently came home. The references about Brently being a loving husband who adored her were more of an assumption in my opinion. If he truly loved her, he would know her well enough to know that she was unhappy and why. He cannot take the easy way out and say that because their marriage was taking place in a time when men made decisions for women that all of his decisions were perfect enough to provide fulfillment for his wife. I think that he did not truly care how she felt, so he conveniently ignored this facet of their marriage. Brently assumed that since it was the custom at that time to make decisions for his wife as in the passage “no powerful will bending hers” that his decisions would make for a happy marriage (Meyer 16). The fact that Brently carried a gripsack instead of a briefcase when he returned may imply that he stayed overnight at a motel instead of being on that train like he was scheduled to be. Maybe Brently was keeping secrets from her or maybe he told her he was going to stay somewhere else. She was not embarrassed that Brently saw her disappointment at his arrival because I think he had seen that look on her face many times before. Brently was probably embarrassed by her expression because the others in the room read her face, his gripsack, and therefore their marriage. He could probably explain that she died because she thought she had seen a ghost, but he knew better. She died because the thought of never being “Free! Body and soul free!” infuriated her (Meyer 16).
This story gained my interest when Brently walked in the door. Their marriage made sense and so did her attitude. I liked the work because of the surprise ending. The writing was very detailed and easy to imagine myself looking at the story taking place.
In response to the reading and discussion questions, the nature of Mrs. Mallard’s “heart trouble” was the fact that she had a sad, lonely and unfulfilled marriage (Meyer 15). The symbolism is that her emotional broken heart became a physically broken one by the end of the story. The setting of the story is in a confined space in order to express the theme of suffocation within their marriage. This was explored later when the author opens a window. This passage is significant because the window with the new life symbolizes a potential new life for her. The sensory images like the smell of a fresh rain, the sight of birds in the trees, the sound of a peddler going on with life means that maybe she can start a fresh new life as well. She also sensed something intangible when she felt the realization that she would have a life without Brently. On page 15, paragraph 9, she “felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching…through the sounds…scents…color that filled the air”(Meyer 15). The creeping thing that she sensed was freedom. The kind of relationship that the Mallards had was a distant, detached, formal and well chilled marriage. Neither of the two were blameless, yet the author seems to blame the time in which they lived. Husbands and wives could communicate and have happy fulfilled marriages back then just as much as couples today can achieve distant, detached, formal and well chilled marriages. She is saying “free, free, free!” because she knows she can have a life of her own without having to bargain with Brently for it. She feels resentful toward Brently. Harboring this resentment has caused her to be depressed and anxious. Mrs. Mallard closes the door on Josephine but leaves the window open because Josephine does not realize how miserable Mrs. Mallard’s marriage is. Mrs. Mallard has probably told Josephine that Brently is the perfect husband because she does not want to bother opening up about it. She opens the window because there is life out there where there is none inside of their marriage. Chopin makes a point of telling the reader this to shine light on the loneliness that Mrs. Mallard is experiencing because she has been imprisoned in this house. Josephine represents Mrs. Mallard’s close family that had no idea of the miserable state of her marriage. Mr. Richards represents the general public who expected a sad reaction to Brently’s death. Mrs. Mallard feels victorious when she descends the stairs because she feels like this marriage that has had her in bondage for so long has now been loosed and she is the victor. The last line is an ironic statement because when Mrs. Mallard finally experienced a long awaited joyful heart, it killed her. By putting this in the mouth of the doctor, the statement now has credibility. The view of marriage this story represents is simply a marriage with a lack of communication. This scenario could easily play out in today’s society. If this story is about a symbolic journey, then Mrs. Mallard travels to her happy place for a small moment in time only later to die and if she were saved, she would experience new life in heaven, if not, then she went to her new life in hell. Overall, I enjoyed the irony of the story.
