After reading The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, I was shocked by the development and the ending of the story. Chopin starts the story by simply describing Mrs. Mallard's reaction to the death of her husband Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard was "afflicted with a heart trouble"; therefore, she was uneasy in accepting the news of her husband's death and also causes her family to worry about her health. She "wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms"; however, "when the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her." At this point of the story, I felt pitiful for Mrs. Mallard's lost. She is extremely sad about the fact that her husband has died, and her action of wanting to be by herself seemed quite normal to me. As the story goes on, Chopin describes the scenes of nature that are outside of Mrs. Mallard's window. Comparing with the atmosphere of Mrs. Mallard's house, the scenes of nature seemed rather refreshed and lively. The story progresses as Mrs. Mallard felt that "something was coming to her", "what was it? She did not know But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air." As I thought that she was getting a heart attack because of much grief she was bearing in her heart, she said out loud "free, free, free!" These words shocked me; however, more shocks were to come. Chopin writes " she 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." Her actions to me is no longer normal, they are rather surprising and unusual. The fact that Mrs. Mallard felt that she was finally free after the death of her husband lead me to think what happened when her husband was alive: was he treating her badly? Then Chopin writes, " she had loved him- sometimes, often she had not" has made me realize that at the time this story was written, women are not free at all comparing to women of today's society.
