Mrs. Mallard In Kate Chopin's The Awakening

In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” she explains what Mrs. Mallard’s true feelings are towards the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. The first paragraph of the story indicates that she was “afflicted with a heart trouble” (Chopin 536). At the end of the story, it is presumed that Mrs. Mallard, “had died of heart disease…of joy that kills” (Chopin 538). At first glance, one would come to conclude that she died from the surprising, unexpected appearance of her “dead” husband. But what really caused Mrs. Mallard’s heart attack?

     The background of the story gives us the idea of what Mrs. Mallard’s marriage meant to her. We see a picture of a young well-to-do wife who seems to be very pleased with her life. We also get the impression that she was deeply in love with her husband.

For a person to be awakened, he or she must go through an experience that causes a sudden enlightenment in the area surrounding them. In the fictional novel The Awakening, written by Kate Choppin, the reader is taken along on the journey of a woman by the name of Edna Pontellier, who is trying to break free of the social guidelines of her time period. Mrs. Pontellier, the wife to a wealthy business man by the name of Leonce, begins to experience change not only with her physical wants but her mental desires as well. This unheard of change that Edna is going through truly is her awakening, is well described by the title of the book, and has an impact on her loved ones around her.

Chopin defines a “mother-woman” as someone “who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands” (8). How do Chopin and Gilman use character foils to give us insight into the protagonists and societal expectations?

Chopin introduces foreshadowing in the very beginning of the story. She introduces the main character Mrs. Mallard in the very first time of the story by saying, “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break her as gently as possible about the news of her husband’s death.” (Chopin, 57). This quote depicts that readers are going to find out that something might happen to Mrs. Mallard. Since foreshadowing is where the author gives hints or indication of a future event that happens later in the story, this narrative hook intrigues the reader and makes them want to keep reading. This element of fiction is significant because the whole story basically revolves around Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition from the beginning of the story and ends with her dying, unfortunately. Another aspect would be the reader’s interpretation of the beginning of the story, it may be viewed literally or figuratively.

The story begins with the passage; “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.” The conflict of the story begins here. Mrs.

The story unviels its theme at this point: Mrs. Mallard, for the first time in her life, experiences a new-found freedom. Instead of dreading the future without her husband, "she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely". She could now live her life and be absolutely free of the imposing will of her husband: There would be no one to live for her during the coming years; she would live for herself. There would be now powerful will bending hers in the blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.(15)

Mrs. Mallard retires alone to her room and what first appears to be grief turns quickly to a realization that she is now “free”. She looks out the window in her bedroom and sees “the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life”. Mrs. Mallard has apparently been in a relationship for which she either regrets or has over time led to unhappiness. The trees out her bedroom window must represent to her a new chance at life. As spring follows winter, when the plants and trees die off, they are reborn again come spring. Mrs. Mallard must feel herself that the death of her husband is a rebirth for her.

Kate Chopin’s world’s most famous literary work, The Awakening, is organized into eight parts, each one containing a particular set of chapters. Part one includes chapters one through five. The novel includes thirty-nine chapters in total, it sums up to a total of one-hundred and twenty-five pages. Chopin is known for her stories featuring daring women, and this philosophy of female independence is apparent throughout the novel’s plot.

Mrs Mallard's awkward attitude after learning of her husband's death establishes an irony- somebody who is really happy in marriage will not enjoy nature in peace and have mixed emotions; the person will feel genuine grief upon hearing of the death of her husband. Here, Mrs Mallard's reaction portrays the extent to which her thirst for freedom was strong. Kate Chopin allows us to visualise the moment that Mrs Mallard is able to shed the bondage of marriage: "free, free, free!." She feels liberated through her husband's death. Much emphasis is laid on her joy upon finding freedom- "there would be no one to live for." The author also points out that "she knew that she would weep again.....folded in death." This only highlights the fact that it is not an expression of love but seems more like a duty that

The role of women has been to get married and have children for many years. It is only within recent years that women have begun to break out of this traditional role; however, the traditional, and arguably sexist, role of women can be seen in most literature, such as The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. Chopin critiques the traditional role of women through the characterization of Madame Ratignolle and Edna Pontellier

However, after failing to abandon the new feeling she senses, she ultimately decides that “she would live for herself” (Chopin). This reversal and unexpected outcome, better known as the climax, is the most intense moment for Mrs. Mallard in all her life because she has never experienced such a sensation before, nor lived a life in which her independence is the core of her being. Teresa Gibert, an English researcher, describes the climax as this: “Then, when we are ready for a detailed description of the sad emotions she [Mrs. Mallard] is likely to experience while mourning, we are confronted with an astonishing passage about the sense of relief and freedom enjoyed by the woman during the hour when she mistakenly thinks she is a widow.” That one special hour is considered the point in which a women’s true freedom is underscored, and specifically, those sixty minutes are Mrs. Mallard’s best time in life.

She was being optimistic and all she cared about was herself and only herself. The narrator expresses, “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.” Chopin indirectly characterizes Mrs. Mallard as a selfish women who only wants what is best for herself in order to reveal what kind of relationship she had with her husband that made her feel a sort of happiness when her husband passed. The demeaning diction used to describe how Mrs. Mallard felt towards the awful news was to show a surprising reaction because she did not react in a sorrowful way but the

In "The Story of an Hour", Mrs Mallard, who has a heart attack is the

The approach Chopin uses to construct a powerful fictional piece of writing is by developing her essay using certain rhetorical devices to evoke emotion combined with a poetic style of writing, which has an impact on the reader. Creating an atmosphere of curiosity and excitement in a story can really make a difference on how the reader is affected by the overall story. A method she uses in order for her story to become intriguing is how she leaves certain information or details out in order for the reader to plug in his or her own ideas. In her story we find a married woman with a heart problem at the very beginning of the plot, making the reader assume that this may be an elderly woman, but later on, we find out the women is quite young. This little detail