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Mrs Mallard Foreshadowing

529 Words3 Pages

As soon as the story begins the scene is immediately set for a very deep and devastating event to take place. Through the word choices in the beginning we can really grasp the sensitive nature of the events that are about to unfold in front of us. Kate Chopin makes the reader recognize how Mrs. Mallard doesn’t just have a heart condition she is afflicted with it, the heart can be seen as ones emotional core which this can be foreshadowing of her marriage. In the time period in when this novel was written the mold for women was that the women would stay at home and tend to the children, cook, and clean. While also being able to be predictable in their actions and emotions this is not the case for Mrs. Mallard after the news has been explained she rushes up stairs to her room alone and sinks into a chair in front of an open window. The window is one of the biggest symbols in the entire story because as she looks through the window for a long period she starts to realize the things she never noticed before and as how the window was unobstructed her new life is now the same. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees aquiver with the new spring life.”(150) the way spring is aquiver could also be a reference of her heart that is aquiver with the new hope and joy that she has found. …show more content…

She is over whelmed with joy and we can see just how forbidden her happiness is and how she abandons herself to be free from her bonds of oppression in her marriage. The belief for marriage is that it joins two people who love one another in a holy union. Many people believe marriage should only occur when two people are in love; although this wasn’t the case with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard could also be used as a symbol because she represents women of that time who didn’t get any joy out of being married or having a

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and Mrs. Mallard. Mr. Mallard symbolizes the patriarchal society of the time, the oppression, and inequalities between genders. This is due to the fact that Mrs. Mallard feels so oppressed and unhappy with their marriage, but cannot communicate her unhappiness with him. When it is assumed that he is dead, Mrs. Mallard experiences a sense of freedom and happiness that she did not feel in her marriage. This can further relay that Mr. Mallard symbolizes the inequalities that existed between men and women and the power that many men had over their wives.

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Mallard mourned about her husband’s loss until she realized that she was going to like having her life to herself. Chopin writes how “Mrs. Mallard saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.” This is situational irony because she believes that she will be able to enjoy the next years of her life on her own, when that very life was ended within minutes. It is also ironic that she was happy about her husband’s death and he was the reason that her life ended.

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This is when Mrs. Mallard realizes they are tears of joy; this is her chance of freedom. It is important to note that she did love her husband very much, and she was very saddened by his death, but this was the first time she actually felt free. Instead of dreading the days of the future, she is now looking forward to them. When Mrs. Mallard finally comes out of her room, and notices that her sister had been waiting outside her door the whole time to make sure she was okay. Mrs. Mallard and her sister start walking downstairs, to the surprise of Mr. Mallard.

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This can be seen when she fees free in a confined room, or how her weak heart sets her free from her husband through death. The author also sets up a subtle melancholy tone to the story that leaves the reader thinking and analyzing the sad events that occurred in the hour. She also use her tone to point out the cruelty idea of marriage at the time and how Mrs. Mallard thought it was a crime which left her powerless because she was a woman. Throughout this short story symbolism is quite clear. For example, when Mrs. Mallard is characterized with heart trouble.

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Mallard is experiencing some internal conflict in her story. While the loss of a spouse would render anyone heartbroken, it was clear that she had additional emotional stress. It was revealed that her friends were especially worried about her reactions. Mrs. Mallard undergoes deep emotional conflict before settling her mind on the idea that she is finally free. The sudden loss of freedom then broke her inside.

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is a representation of how she felt in the moment of hearing the news about her husband. Mrs. Mallard felt physically and emotionally depressed.

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At first Mrs. Mallard was heartbroken over her husband’s death, she grieved fiercely, crying and locking herself in their room, but soon she saw the light. She no longer had anyone controlling her; she was

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This is shown multiple times throughout the story as Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death is different than that of what society would consider normal. This is first shown in the second paragraph which reads, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin 644). This instance of irony is the first hint towards the idea that Mrs. Mallard doesn’t react in a way that people normally do in society. Later in the story, it’s shown that previously Mrs. Mallard wished for death to set her free from her husband.

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The reader soon discovers, this feeling that comes to Mrs. Mallard is joy and relief, she feels this because she can now finally be her own person. Mrs. Mallard comes to the realization that her husband had been oppressing her for years, “There would be no powerful will bending..”, and she was finally free of that. Before the passing of her husband, Mrs. Mallard was scared of living a long life because of the treatment she received from him. After his passing she had a much different outlook, “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.” This shows that Mrs. Mallard was excited to now live her own life without being told what she was to do.

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891 Words | 4 Pages

Mallard’s home, where her sister and her husband’s friend reveal the news of his death to her. They bring the news to Mrs. Mallard in the home that she shares with her husband. This is symbolic because the bottom floor of her house represents her marriage to her husband, and how she is trapped and controlled by her husband. In the time period that this story takes place it is reasonable to assume that she moved from her father’s home into her husband’s home so she has been controlled by a man her entire life.

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In the beginning of the story, she heard the news of her husband’s death in train accident from her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend, Richard. She was shocked by the news and showed sad feelings in the story. However, when I was reading through the story, I could infer that Mallard had a terrible marriage life with her husband because the story later said that Mallard was happy because she had freedom. In the beginning of the story, she was shocked and sad but later on, she was happy because of in dependence. These evidences prove that she is a dynamic character.

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1096 Words | 5 Pages

Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the readers to contemplate a hidden meaning woven into the story line. Mr. Mallard is assumed to die in a railroad accident, leaving Mrs. Mallard devastated. Instead of feeling sadness or grief, Mrs. Mallard actually feels free. "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Page 499).

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421 Words | 2 Pages

Mrs. Mallard had not often loved him. Then she thought that she could get freedom when she did not know he is alive. We can read it from a sentence, “ she said it over and over under her breath: ‘free, free, free!’”. These “truth” in the story are one of cause that she died and symbolize gender.

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433 Words | 2 Pages

Mrs. Mallard scene in the story would be implicit because although she expressed her sadness in front of her sister it wasn’t clear to the rest of the people why she would be happy when she went to her room. While in her room she kept whispering “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin). She was glad she would no longer be in control by a husband; although she would be sad at his funeral now that he has died she can finally be herself.

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1124 Words | 5 Pages

In the story, Chopin begins with the issue of female identity. The story, just like several other stories, begins with Mrs. Mallard being at home; two assumptions can be made, one she is married, and two, she is probably waiting for her husband to return home. What is particular about it, is how Chopin only mentions her name after she knows about her husband’s death and when is realizes that she is free. By doing this, the author criticizes the fact that women adopted her husband’s name in marriage as a signal of men’s property. This fact could mean that for a woman to recover her identity or freedom is by becoming a

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