During winter all the plants die, but then they begin their new lives in spring. Mrs. Mallard's marriage is winter and his death is her transition to spring. Alone in the room she had come to that conclusion and only by being alone in that room could she have come to that. If she were with her family members as she was at first she would have had to continue on with her grief. The idea of a woman not being owned by a man in the time period this story takes place is revolutionary. The time and her being alone dictate the importance of every other element of the short story.
The revolutionary idea behind writing a short story in the setting of the early 1900's and the spring season was the theme of freedom and new life. Mrs. Mallard was a symbol of women all over the country being trapped in their own houses. In writing the story Chopin stresses the theme that women want the same freedom that men receive and want to be treated more like equals. When she learns of her husband's death she thinks, "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself"(46). The theme is best described in with setting because as earlier described women did not enjoy the same freedoms as men did during those times. Without the main theme of freedom and new life, combined with setting, there is no revolutionary thinking and purpose to the story.
The character of Mrs. Mallard is extremely important to the foundations of the short story, but both the setting and the theme define her character. At first she is the housewife that has dutifully done her job of maintaining the house. Next she is alone in a room thinking that she is excited that her husband is dead. The thoughts in her head of happiness reflect the theme of freedom that she feels when she is left to venture out in life without her husband. She is not scared to be alone, but rather she is pleased to finally follow her own thoughts.
Mallard feels at the news of her husband's death. ... Chopin symbolically appeals to all five of the reader's senses through the description of daily life outside Mrs. ... Mallard, but also the death of Mrs. ... Mallard's entire life that truly lived. ... Descriptions of scenery, personality, and emotion each add an element of sympathy that the reader inevitably feels toward Mrs. ...