Project Blog #9 - The Story of an Hour

By far the most odd of stories we have read thus far, "The Story of an Hour" demonstrates the story of one woman's reaction to the death of her husband. Mrs. Mallard, whose husband was horrifically killed in a train accident, is notified of the news and begins to weep. One would think that her reaction would be rather saddened and upset, which in the beginning Mrs. Mallard is. But later in the story the audience sees that she is ultimately happy her husband is dead and gone. "Free! Body and soul free!" shouts Mrs. Mallard under her breath (Chopin). It is rather obvious she is enthralled that her husband was killed tragically. She locks herself in her room away from everyone else. I think she does this to secretly demonstrate her excitement. Once her sister comes to fetch her, she leaves her room and heads downstairs. Much to her surprise, her husband opens the door, completely unaware that there even was an accident in the first place. Then the story comes to an anxious end. Mrs. Mallard dies. Yup, she does from seeing her husband come in. Whether or not it was from the excitement she experienced earlier from her husbands "death" news, or the fact that she was shocked and upset to actually see her husband alive and living, is up to the reader to interpret.

This story demonstrates the philosophy of both Thoreau and Emerson because both men believed in the idea of freedom and equality. This philosophy can further be demonstrated in Ralph Waldo Emerson's speech about women's rights in Boston on September 20, 1855. As far as freedom goes, it mostly pertained to slaves, but during Chopin's time period, woman's rights was also a big issue for society. Women were often times constrained to their husband's wishes and had to do what they said. I think that Mrs. Mallard was happy her husband was presumably dead because she was ready to be "free" as she says and not forced to follow his rules and regulations anymore.

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour" Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 554-555. Print.

Wayne, Tiffany K. "'Address at the Woman's Rights Convention'." Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.