Mrs. Mallard is an unsympathetic person based on her desire to become a widow, the perceived joy and freedom of her husband’s death, and the shock she faces when she realizes her husband is still alive. Mrs. Mallard felt stuck with no power and desired to become a widow because a widow had almost as much power as a man. She had two people watch over her because of her heart condition- her husband’s friend and her sister.…
Someone once said, “ Life is like an elevator: on your way up, sometimes, you have to stop and let some people off.” Sal’s life is just like this quote when Sal had to let go of her mother but, didn’t want to. Sal could not accept her mother’s death but eventually she does. In the book Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech one theme is that happiness can be found in even the darkest of times if only one remembers to turn on the light. One of the best themes is that happiness can be found even in the darkest times if only one remembers to turn on the light.…
Characters make up the entire story, but what is their part in the story? Many characters end up being either complicated or are the exact same throughout the story, so how is this shown? Louise Mallard has a heart problem, in which the people around her treat her like she is frail. Soon she receives news of her husband's supposed death and her sister is worried for her health. Louise would best be described as a flat character, although at first, when she receives the news her sadness is more from shock, and she quickly realizes what his death means for her life.…
There are two types of motives that self-serving people use; for personal gain and for self-preservation. Self-serving people only think about themselves and they rarely ever concern themselves with the thoughts or feelings of others. Generally, the majority of people share the self-serving characteristic in one way or another, and most people are often self-serving without even realizing they are doing so. In the stories “A story of an Hour,” “A Rose for Emily,” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” all three protagonists, Mrs. Mallard, Emily Grierson, and the grandmother all share the self-serving characteristic. Upon learning of her husband’s untimely passing, Mrs. Mallard takes the news, she weeps for a moment and retires to her room.…
It is ironic that no one but the reader has made the discovery of the true feelings Mrs. Mallard had for her husband, everyone believes she is distraught and struck with grief at the news of Mr. Mallard’s death. Even her sister, Josephine,…
1. Consider the persons who have delivered any news to Louise. What similarities do they all share? They all took, “great care to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husbands.”…
Upon hearing the news of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard is in a sudden grief and weeps at once. However, after she has calmed down and is alone in her room, she realizes she is now an independent woman. She sees all the spring days and summer days without her husband, and this excites her. When she acknowledges the joy, she feels possessed by it and must control herself from letting the word…
Louise hears of her husband’s death and, while mourning, finds solace in that she can finally live her own life. Although Jane and Louise are finding their freedom in very different ways, they are…
Stories often use tragedy to evoke an empathetic response in readers. Empathy is important in story telling because without it the reader isn’t emotionally invested. Many of the stories we have covered in class use tragedy and death to enhance the empathy and identification the reader feels. Themes of tribulation often make the reader feel distressing emotions more than a story that uses less serious situations. “The Things They Carried” by Tm O’Brien uses war, death, and emotional conflict to create empathy between the narrator and the reader.…
In the beginning of the story, Louise Mallard hears from Josephine and Richards the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. Louise “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (1). The weeping can be seen as symbol for her release from her marriage. Louise might be weeping in joy over the death of her husband because she is finally free from her marriage. Also in the story, it states that she was described as “a child who has cried itself to sleep (and) continues to sob in its dreams” (1).…
Louise learns that her husband has died in a tragic train accident. Like any other wife, she grieves at first but shortly later realizes she would soon be free, “Body and…
Facing the unexpectedly bad news, she was of course sad, however at the same time she felt free, body and soul free. Her sister Josephine reminded us of her conventional thought that women should attach themselves to their husbands” (167). To her loved ones, Louise Mallard’s death was a depressing case of irony as was her independence to herself. However, in death she managed to find a way to escape her bondage and begin life anew, free from the clutches of 19th century societal…
This quote in the story shows Louise’s difference; it shows that what she sees is not what most women would reflect on after their husband dies. In the story it 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.” This shows how joyful and thankful she was for this unfortunate event. She dreaded life alongside her husband because women in that era were never heard, never considered, and were more or less properties of their husband.…
Right from the beginning, we are made aware that Mrs. Mallard suffers from a heart condition. She is a woman from the late 1800s, so when we reflect on that time period, we recognize that woman struggled with being treated as “Functional wives”. Oppressed, lonely, emotional, and with no rights, many women of that era did not have much of an independent existence. Therefore, when Louise Mallard learns of her husband’s death she weeps, but not out of typical sorrow and grief. Ironically, she actually sheds tears because she finally feels that she is free and is exhilarated with the ideas of her independence.…
Mrs. Mallard, feeling “Liberated by her husband’s death… becomes even more sensual as she embraces her new freedom of soul” (Evans 1). Ultimately, the removal of Mr. Brentley Mallard from Mrs. Mallard’s life results not only in Louise’s freedom but in joy that “Warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin…