p.p1 brief and rather positive information she

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p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: 36.

0px; font: 12.0px ‘Times New Roman’; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}p.p2 {margin: 0.

0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.

0px; font: 12.0px ‘Times New Roman’; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.

0px; font: 12.0px ‘Times New Roman’; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}span.s1 {font-kerning: none}span.s2 {font-kerning: none; color: #ff0000; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #ff0000}span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre} In the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard contemplates her relationship with her husband and relationships in general after she learns of her husband’s death.  While her sister believes that she is locked in her bedroom prostrate with grief, Mrs.

Mallard is celebrating her newfound freedom as a single woman.  However, Mrs. Mallard’s joy and her exclamation “Free!  Body and soul free!” conflict with the brief and rather positive information she offers about her husband (2).  As she imagined how she would feel when viewing her husband’s body, she considers his “kind tender hands” and his “face that had never looked save with love upon her” (2).   From this information, it appears that Mr. Mallard was not an abusive man; therefore, Mrs.

Mallard may be disparaging the state of marriage and relationships in general as a hindrance to one’s personal freedom.  Mrs. Mallard considers that with her husband’s death “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (2).  Although this story could be interpreted from a feminist perspective, Mrs. Mallard considers both men and women guilty of imposing restrictions upon each other.  Mrs.

Mallard’s interior monologue conveys her feelings concerning her restrictive lifestyle as a married woman as she uses expressions such as “blind persistence” and “private will” (2).  As she ponders her newfound freedom, she uses the expressions “monstrous joy” and “feverish triumph” which portray a relationship as a battle, and having won this battle that ended with her husband’s death, she terms herself a “goddess of victory” (2). Mrs. Mallard’s brief reference to her husband’s character does not seem to justify her reaction to his death; rather, her short-lived happiness when she celebrated her freedom may reflect her own distrust of relationships and her desire to be free of any entanglements.