Gray 1

Heather Gray

English 101/0000

May 5, 2000

Essay #6

Disappointment

      "The Story of an Hour" is a short story in which Kate Chopin, the author, presents

an often unheard of view of marriage. Published in the late eighteen hundreds, the

oppressive nature of marriage in "The Story of an Hour" may well be a reflection of,

though not exclusive to, that era. Mrs. Louise Mallard, Chopin's main character,

experiences the exhilaration of freedom rather than the desolation of loneliness after she

learns of her husband's death. Later, when Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband, Brently,

still lives, she know that all hope of freedom is gone. The crushing disappointment kills

Mrs. Mallard.

      Though Chopin relates Mrs. Mallard's story, she does not do so in first person.

Chopin reveals the story through a narrator's voice. The narrator is not simply an

observer, however. The narrator knows, for example, that Mrs. Mallard, for the most

part, did not love her husband (paragraph 15). It is obvious that the narrator knows

more than can be physically observed. Chopin, however, never tells the reader what Mrs.

Mallard is feeling. Instead, the reader must look into Mrs. Mallard's actions and words in

order to understand what Mrs. Mallard feels.

      Mrs. Mallard is held back in her marriage. The lines of her face "bespoke repression"

(paragraph 8). When Mrs. Mallard learns of her husband's death, she knows that there

will "be no powerful will bending her" (paragraph 14). There will be no husband who

believes he has the "right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature" (paragraph 14).

Mrs. Mallard acknowledges that her husband loved her. Brently had only ever looked at

Mrs. Mallard with love (paragraph 13). This information implies to the reader that Brently

is not a bad man; he simply believes that it is his right, and perhaps his obligation as a

husband, to direct Mrs. Mallard in everything she does. When Mrs. Mallard learns of her

husband's death, she realizes that he will no longer be there to repress her; there will be

no one, save her, to direct her will. Then, in a crushing blow, everything she has just

realized and begun to look forward to is stolen from her grasp.

      Upon learning of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard realizes that she is now free. She

repeats the words "Free, free, free!" (paragraph 11) and feels her body come alive. Her

pulse beats faster; her blood runs warmer; her eyes brighten (paragraph 11). Mrs.

Mallard knows that from now on she can live for herself and no one else, that "all sort of

days…would be her own" (paragraph 19). Mrs. Mallard sees the chance to live out the

rest of her days for herself; she sees the opportunity to be her own person. Mrs. Mallard

now looks forward to a long life. She had previously dreaded the years ahead spent

under the thumb of her husband (paragraph 19). Now, though, Mrs. Mallard is someone

who has much to look forward to and many joys to appreciate. This opportunity is taken

from her just as her chance of freedom is taken from her when she learns that Brently

still lives. When Mrs. Mallard sees Brently walk through the front door, the

disappointment and the devastation of loss that she suffers cause her heart to fail.

      When Mrs. Mallard walks down the stairs with her sister, she has triumph in her eyes

(paragraph 20). The front door opens, however, and Brently walks in. What effect does

this have on Mrs. Mallard? It kills her. Mrs. Mallard has, in a very short time, realized the

world is a wonderful place and that she can live in it anyway she chooses. She gains

freedom, independence, individuality, and a whole host of things to look forward to in

life. When Brently walks in the door, though, Mrs. Mallard knows that she will have to

spend the rest of her life as no more than his wife, just as she had been. She knows that

she will never be free. This is too much for Mrs. Mallard to handle. Life had been grim

before, with her looking forward to the years ahead "with a shudder" (paragraph 19).

Now that Mrs. Mallard has tasted what life might have been like without her husband, the

idea of resuming her former life is unbearably grim. When Mrs. Mallard sees that her

husband still lives, she dies, killed by the disappointment of losing everything she so

recently thought she had gained.