Lakhasly

At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard is overcome with grief with the loss of
her husband. This shows that the female is an emotional person compared to men.
It was natural to know that she would be upset with the death of her husband, but
the story had both her sister and her husband’s friend be there to break the news to
her. Mrs. Mallard has heart problems which can make the reader see her as a
weaker person right at the beginning of the story. From the start, we as readers are
told to see Mrs. Mallard as a naturally weaker character.
Another way to make Mrs. Mallard appear as a weaker person was when she went
to her room alone to continue her grief. After she enters her room she goes to the
chair and the story says, “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion
that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” This shows us that her
strong emotions caused her physical exhaustion. Not only was she emotional, but
now the story shows that Mrs. Mallard can’t even handle it physically either. It goes
even further to say that the weakness even goes into her soul.
After she sits down, Mrs. Mallard begins to appear as a stronger woman which is
where the feminist theory takes effect. She looks out of the house through the large
open window which could also signify the open opportunities available to her now.
She begins to see how her marriage made her into a lesser person. She realizes that
she has been living her life through limitations caused from being married. Mrs.
Mallard knows that she can begin to live for herself. The story says, “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.” This quote
shows the feminist theory that it was assumed women were oppressed and shows
the patriarchal ideology. She was bending her will and freedom to a white man that
held all of the control in the relationship. Marriage, in this story, appears to be the
male having complete control over the woman. It also seems like Mrs. Mallard
thought that she wasn’t even allowed to have her own thoughts which was probablyAt the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard is overcome with grief with the loss of
her husband. This shows that the female is an emotional person compared to men.
It was natural to know that she would be upset with the death of her husband, but
the story had both her sister and her husband’s friend be there to break the news to
her. Mrs. Mallard has heart problems which can make the reader see her as a
weaker person right at the beginning of the story. From the start, we as readers are
told to see Mrs. Mallard as a naturally weaker character.
Another way to make Mrs. Mallard appear as a weaker person was when she went
to her room alone to continue her grief. After she enters her room she goes to the
chair and the story says, “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion
that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” This shows us that her
strong emotions caused her physical exhaustion. Not only was she emotional, but
now the story shows that Mrs. Mallard can’t even handle it physically either. It goes
even further to say that the weakness even goes into her soul.
After she sits down, Mrs. Mallard begins to appear as a stronger woman which is
where the feminist theory takes effect. She looks out of the house through the large
open window which could also signify the open opportunities available to her now.
She begins to see how her marriage made her into a lesser person. She realizes that
she has been living her life through limitations caused from being married. Mrs.
Mallard knows that she can begin to live for herself. The story says, “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.” This quote
shows the feminist theory that it was assumed women were oppressed and shows
the patriarchal ideology. She was bending her will and freedom to a white man that
held all of the control in the relationship. Marriage, in this story, appears to be the
male having complete control over the woman. It also seems like Mrs. Mallard
thought that she wasn’t even allowed to have her own thoughts which was probablytrue. To question your husband at this period in time meant that you were being an
out of control wife.
Mrs. Mallard goes on to realize how much she really didn’t love her husband. She
doesn’t feel the need to have guilt over it since he is already gone. She finally breaks
away from the role forced onto her as the perfect wife and can begin to stop holding
herself back. This can show the reader that a woman at this time might not even be
aware of just how much of herself she has to hold back when married. It seems like
Mrs. Mallard didn’t allow herself the thoughts of being completely free from him and
what she will be able to do when he’s no longer around, until he was actually dead.
I think that the story also shows how Mrs. Mallard develops her own identity. As a
reader, we are told that her name is Mrs. Mallard at the beginning. Through her grief
of losing her husband she is still Mrs. Mallard to us. This shows that her title is really
just the name given to her with her husband’s last name. She has no identity as her
own; she is just a woman that belongs to Mr. Mallard. After she realizes how free she
is, we begin to see her as an actual person. Her emotions and thoughts aren’t about
her dead husband anymore; instead it’s about her living without limits. She comes
into her own individual person. It is right after these thoughts that we hear he sister
calling her Louise. Her being called by her given name can signify that she is now an
equal to men. She is no longer being held back by the role of a wife.
“The Story of an Hour” also shows how the thoughts of a woman can change
without the limitations. Mrs. Mallard thought of time differently after the death of
her husband. The story says, “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It
was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” The
death of her husband gave her a new look of life in her future. Now that she could
live for herself, she wanted nothing more than to have a long time to enjoy it. When
she was forced into the role of timid and obedient wife, she didn’t see a point in
living. She would have rather died young then to have to obey her husband for the
rest of her life. With this freedom came the irony of the story. After she says this, her
husband walks into their home and she realizes that he wasn’t really dead all alonghe finally allowed herself to think of her life as living for herself. I think that the
shock and disappointment in not being allowed the new life is what killed her. She
got her wish in the end and lived a short life, which is what she wanted all along if
she was forced to live her life for her husband. It seems like her body gave her what
her mind wanted. It is also ironic because like in the beginning, she is made to
appear to be a weaker character because of her heart condition. In the end, this
weakness is what everyone thinks killed her, and not her resistance of being put
back into the role that was forced and expected of her.