The Story of an Hour
By: Kate Chopin

I honestly was so confused after I read this story.  At the beginning, I felt so bad for Mrs. Mallard.  The way that she found out about her husband's death was very sad.  "It was her sister Josephine who had told her, in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing" (Chopin).  I felt so bad for Mrs. Mallard and cannot imagine how difficult this would be.  "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms" (Chopin).  Mrs. Mallard cried immediately upon learning of her husband's death.  However, she quickly recovered from this.  She soon begins to feel a sense of joy and freedom.  This made me wonder if she was in an unhealthy marriage.  Why would anyone feel free after the loss of his/her spouse?  Maybe she felt that she could not be her own, individual person as a married woman.  Either way, I was very confused as to why Mrs. Mallard suddenly experienced joy.  In addition, I was even more confused when she died of a heart disease at the end.  "She had died of a heart disease-of joy that kills" (Chopin).  Is this to be taken literally?  Did Mrs. Mallard really die as a result of her joy?