Story of an Hour

“True Meaning of Freedom”

             The first thing I felt after I finished reading the story called “The story of an hour” was I was getting more and more unconscious. It was such a shock for me to realize that one lovely couple could end like this. There weren’t any severe problems between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard in their marriage. Although I don’t fully understand Mrs. Mallard’s reaction toward the news about Mr. Mallard’s death, I believe that there always are inner problems between two. On the other hand, I felt some sort of insecurity and fear of getting married to someone who might feel free when I am not with him. Also, imagining how I might be acting like Mrs. Mallard was quite scary.

             Since the story is comparably short to other novels I usually read, there are only few symbolic words that I could find. Though there were a few, they all had deep meanings inside. To start with, Mrs. Mallard had a heart disease which rolled a big deal in the story. Because of the fact that her heart wasn’t working very well, she was in a big grief when she got the news about the accident of her husband. However, the sick heart started to pound hard since the moment she felt she was now free from all the oppression she used to get from her marriage. How her heart beat so fast explains how much she wanted to be free as a woman in the world. Moreover, she kept describing the open window and the things she could see through it. Blue sky means her free life from now on, and the open window is something that connects her to the new world of freedom. I really liked the concept of the open window and the society she could now view as a “freed person.” Though I mentioned that I don’t quite understand how this woman could feel so good and joyful, I could feel the meaning that was implied in the word “window.” She is happy just for realizing that she could now reach out to the outer world.

             The most interesting part was the ending scene where Mrs. Mallards died of a shock she got from the fact that her husband was actually alive. The last line saying, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of the joy that kills” was an irony here. The part “of the joy that kills” made me laugh since I noticed it was used in the opposite way, frankly. Even though she had a heart disease, it was too much for her to die suddenly just because her husband was proved to be alive. I wonder if all the wives in the world act like this. I seriously want to know whether it is that much of oppression to live the world as a wife a someone. After being able to answer the question, I think it is time for me to major in psychology!


04.13.2011