Brief Summary Of Brently Mallard's Short Story Of An Hour

Summary
After hearing the horrific news of Brently Mallard's railroad accident death, his friend Richards goes off to tell the news to Mrs.Mallard at her house. When he arrives, he and Mrs. Mallard's sister Josephine inform her of Mallard's tragic death. After hearing the news she cries to them before going off to her room for some alone time. She sits exhaustively and motionless in her armchair while looking out the window, occasionally sobbing. The young woman stares into the sky while she waits nervously for the revelation of her husband's death to set in. He then realizes that it isn't sadness that she is feeling but freedom. She decides it while she's running for her husband's death she's also going to get many years of freedom, which

she welcomes with open arms. She didn't begins planning your future which she live that the burden of other people, including her husband. She knows that she left her husband but love is nothing compared independence she decides that she murmurs, "Free! Body and Soul Free!" Josephine then comes to check on her sister because she is afraid that she will make herself ill with grief. However, Mrs.Mallard is feeling no grief but freedom so she opens the door and goes downstairs with her sister, where Richard is waiting. At this moment, Brently Mallard walks in the door, alive and unscathed. The sight of him makes Mrs.Mallard pass out on the floor and by the time doctors arrive she has already died from a heart disease; "the joy that kills."
Personal Response
I enjoy the story very much because I feel that Chopin did a great job addressing the issues of female independence. Choppin presents Mrs. Mallard as a sympathetic character with strength and insight. She is characterized as a strong woman that takes care of the house and herself while her husband is away. However, after her husband had died the reader gets an insight at everything she is holding back as a housewife. Mrs.Mallard will never be an independent woman because she is married, with the burden of a husband that bosses her around. While love is an important part of life, I feel this story shows how important it is to love yourself before being with someone else. To me "A Story of an Hour" is a great story that suggests of both the struggles that women go through everyday and the importance of an equal relationship. It saddens me that Mrs.Mallard is married to someone that isn't her soulmate, but instead a burden of her freedom. That is something I never want.