Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” has a sad beginning, an understandable middle, but an odd ending. I was upset for Mrs. Mallard in the beginning when she learned of her husband’s death. At first, I just assumed that when Mrs. Mallard “wept at once,” she was just acting like a normal distraught wife. She had heard that her husband had died, and I thought her being upset was acceptable. I did not think anything about it until you get further along in the story. She leaves the room and begins to think of all the things that she gets to do now that she is alone. She can do everything for herself. She can live for herself. I thought that maybe that was just the shock of losing her husband. Then her husband returned -- unharmed.
