Response Story of an Hour

Response Paper
Kate Chopin Story of an Hour
Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour is a short yet powerfully descriptive story of a woman (Mrs. Mallard) who learns that her husband is killed in a train accident. At first she is sad but goes on to realize that she is now free of the oppression that her husband had over her. She is relieved but goes on to die of heart failure when she finds her husband is not dead. The characters believe in believable ways. The story was written in 1894 and in that time it was more common for the male to control their wives. This was the time when divorce was very rare and taboo. The fact that Mrs. Mallard disliked her husband and was relieved when she found out he was killed is believable especially because at first she was very sad and crying before she really thought about the situation. It is believable as well that Mrs. Mallard died when she saw her husband because it not only was it shocking and a letdown but also because she suffered from a bad heart.
One moment that really shifts the tone and energy of the story is in paragraph eleven when she whispers “Free, free, free” under her breath. This is when the story shifts from her being sad and depressed to her being uplifted and realizing that this was actually a good thing in her life. After this point in the story, Mr. Mallard’s death goes from being a bad thing to being a good thing and a new beginning for Mrs. Mallard. At the end of the story in think the world is less orderly because she at the beginning of the story everyone is alive and happy but in the end one person is dead.
An indirect political statement that this story can make is the time period and how it related to women’s rights. It is obvious that she was not happy with her husband but due to the time period and its customs did not allow woman to have rights to do what they truly want to do. Mr. Mallard’s death was the only way that she could really be liberated from him and allowed to do what she wanted. It is ironic that Mrs. Mallard died right after she was liberated from her husband. The fact that she died of “joy that kills” is ironic because in this situation you would think that she would be happy to see her husband alive and well but actually she was not and died from that.
This story reminded me of the movie “The Color Purple.” It was not as intense as in that film but in both stories the wife is unhappy with their husbands and want to leave but cannot for one reason or another. In Chopin’s story it was because that was not an acceptable practice. Overall I enjoyed this story because it was very short yet descriptive and it ended with good irony at the end.
One thing I wonder is why and how Richard got the information wrong about Mrs. Mallard being killed. I think it may have been an honest mistake because technology and records were not taken as well in 1894 or maybe it was another Brently Mallard who was killed on that train.