Paper Topic:

MY INTRODUCTION / MY JOURNAL RESPONSE

It was apparent that in Kate Chopin 's The Story of an Hour ' the intense feelings she felt upon learning of her husband 's death was not one of grief . Instead , what she felt was the intense feeling of relief and joy , having now known and realized that she will no longer be imprisoned ' in the subservient kind of relationship she had with her husband . While it is possible that Mrs Mallard could have loved her husband , this possibility can also be confused by the fact that she might have considered her duty

to be subservient to her husband as an act of love , when in fact , it was actually an act of duty - not only to her husband , but to the society that held this belief strongly for women like her

As was mentioned earlier , society 's culture had a strong role in developing the kind of marital relationship between Mr and Mrs Mallard While both Mr and Mrs Mallard can be blamed for keeping a marriage that was dictated according to the norms of their culture , society is not altogether faultless in imposing the roles that the couple assumed - Mr Mallard as the imposing husband , and Mrs Mallard as the subservient wife

Keeping the story brief was , I believe , a strategy that Chopin used in to create the impact that her story has indeed warranted . By keeping the story short , and ending abruptly with Mrs Mallard 's death when she found out that her husband is still alive , was both humorous and truthful in its portrayal . Had the story been longer than intended it would be interesting to know Mr Mallard 's reaction to the commotion that her sudden death had caused . Indeed , Chopin 's last line in the story , of joy that kills ' warranted intrigue on the part of the reader , since it was implied that the cause of her death was from the joy she felt upon seeing her husband . However , another message that this line implied was that it was only through death that Mrs Mallard could truly feel joy , as she witnessed that with her husband alive , she would continually live the life of subservience to her husband

Mrs Mallard , upon entering her room and realizing the death of her husband , went through a transition of shock to intense joy . What people misunderstood as grief was actually disbelief on the reality that her husband was indeed dead , and that she suddenly found joy in her loss It was only upon hearing of her husband 's death that she truly believed she was free and capable of experiencing joy , which she never experienced as a wife to her husband

Subservience of females to males was an issue that was predominant in Chopin 's society , at the time she wrote the story . The story of an hour ' was a satirical look at this reality , wherein Mrs Mallard epitomized the subservient women of Chopin 's time , whose freedom were held by a leash by the males...

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