The Story of an Hour
... a future full of “spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin 14). Another trait that becomes apparent as we get to know Mrs. Mallard is her lack of introspection. Even during this crisis, she discloses that she has only “sometimes” loved her husband (Chopin 14), but does not think this is an issue that is important to examine. In fact, she dismisses the whole idea of love as the “unsolved mystery” and lets it go at that (Chopin 14). It is significant that her favorite chair faces the west, where the day would die every evening. The gray clouds she sees outside her window are symbolic of the grayness she visualizes in her life. She has decided her life as a married woman is an incarceration, and so she envisions the future as a lifelong prison sentence. She is not in touch with herself enough to understand the true source of her misery until fate offers an unexpected escape. If she had thought about it she would have realized this prison was self-imposed. She is a captive of her own poor temperament. The lush nature and pleasant sounds have been outside her window all along, but she has chosen not to acknowledge them. The first wave of joy she experiences comes to her as she vacantly stares out this window. “It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought” (Chopin 13). Once she realizes the implications of her husband’s death, she envisions endless days of freedom to do whatever she wants, but does not consider what that means. The reader is left to ponder those momentous uncertainties she should be contemplating at this time. Who will take care of her now? Will she go back to her family and their stifling love? Will she marry another man only to be bound by new ties? And then when her conscience feebly tries to assert itself and suggest she should feel guilty about her glee, she immediately dismisses that suggestion as “trivial” compared to the elation she is experiencing (Chopin 13). Although Mrs. Mallard initially appears to undergo an enormous transformation from a dutiful wife miserably contemplating a future of endless days of boredom to an excited woman “drinking in a very elixir of life” (Chopin 14), her unsympathetic character is consistent throughout the story. As a fragile young wife, she has family and friends handling her with kid gloves and doing her beck and call. Her behavior is motivated by her impetuous whims. When told of her husband’s death, she abandons those wanting to comfort her, and locks herself in her bedroom. In spite of their entreaties, “she would have no one follow her” (Chopin 13). The comfortable chair by the window indicates this has been her refuge more than once. Chopin hints at this chameleon nature in her physical description of Louise, as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 13). She is, at all times, a master at portraying herself as weak and needy while in reality she is controlling those who love her, and her priorities are ruled by what she wants with no regard to those around her. Instead of being tragic, her death in the end is reminiscent of a young child’s temper tantrum when a new toy is suddenly snatched away. The contrast between Mrs. Mallard’s theatrical, self-indulgent nature and that of her husband is conspicuous. If the author had planted any misgivings about Mr. Mallard’s character, the reader could have sought to excuse his wife’s behavior, but Brently Mallard is consis...