Story Of An Hour Essay

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The “Story of an Hour” essay by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to Ms. Louise Mallard, who is quite different than other women of her time. Her perception and how she handles things makes her a ‘square peg in a round hole.’ When she is told the news of her husband’s death, her reaction of hearing the news, thinking about her future, and when she finds out the ultimate truth show how different she truly is. When Ms. Mallard heard the news of her husband passing in an accident, she reacted differently in a sense that wasn’t devastating, or even fear. Upon hearing the news first reacted not with paralyzed fear, but she cried out. “Didn’t hear the story as many women have heard the same,” because she wasn’t afraid of being alone. Most women would be overcome with sadness upon hearing news of their husband passing, and dread the long future ahead, but not Ms. Mallard. After hearing the news she went upstairs and looked out the window alone in her room. She saw “trees that were all aquiver with spring life,” and spring represents rebirth and new life. A fresh start. When Louise Mallard found out the tragic news of her husband’s death, she looked on the positive side of not being kept under repression and starting a new life for herself. …show more content…

Mallard had began to think about her future as her own. She sat up in her room and “saw beyond the bitter moment… the long procession of years belonging to her absolutely,” meaning she saw the long years alone as a positive experience and to embrace it. She always knew who she was, and now she can be that person. Her life was her own. “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips... she said it over and over under her breath, free, free, free.” Ms. Mallard thinking about the life ahead of her was a turning point in the story, when she realized she was happy and carefree now that her husband was

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