Louise Mallard's Death

The death of a love one usually fills people with grief, ironically for Mrs. Mallard, the emotion she felt about her husband’s demise is quite the opposite. In the story The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, Louise. Mallard, a newly widowed housewife has been informed that a railroad accident have killed her husband, Mr. Mallard. The unexpected news left her in shock and heartbroken. At first her initial reaction was sadness, just like a normal person would feel in this dire situation. But as she begin to recover from her shock, she begin to feel a sense of relief, ultimately accepting her husband death as her own form of freedom. It is then when her husband, Brently Mallard enter the house revealing that he was never a part of the accident.

The author even went on to remind the reader about the heart condition by raising Louise’s heartbeat during the time of excitement. “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin, 233). The sentence can also be seen as a kind of teaser for the reader as they may expect that a heart injury may appear at any time during the scene. There are clues about Louise Mallard that tell us that she behave differently from other women. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” (Chopin, 233). The author points out that Louise Mallard is not stuck, as “many women” have been, by “a paralyzed inability” to accept the painful sense of loss. Instead she was filled with emotions of sorrow (Jamil. S. Selina). During the scene when Louise was resting on her chair to recollect herself, her surroundings shape itself to represent the change that taking place in her mind. The open window is use by the author, was chosen to be open to portray a portal to freedom instead of being closed preventing anything from exiting. The window played an important role in influencing Louise’s thought. The armchair that Louise was sitting on is descript to be

Chopin masterfully blend the environments to fit the tone of the story. Almost all of the physical object that appears provide meanings to story. One example can be seen near the end of the story when Brently Mallard appears carrying a grip-sack. The grip-sack represent the distance in relationship that she share with his wife. Louise Mallard is a unique character that many would be able to sympathize with. . The tragedy of Louise Mallard’s death occurs not only because she is a woman but because she is a modern woman (Foote, Jeremy). Because of the hardship that Louise had to deal with when her husband is still alive, it is understandable why she would choose to have such radical thought. Even if those thought can be considered immoral and