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Story Of An Hour Conflict Essay

Decent Essays

In the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, it tells you about a woman with an internal and external conflict. In this story a woman is told about the “devastating” news about her husband’s death, how she reacts explains to the reader what her internal and external conflicts are. Mrs.Mallard has several conflicts in the story including her inner feeling, her outer feelings, and her conflicts with society. Mrs.Mallard’s first conflict, is internal, with herself and how she feels. Instead of most women who had just lost their husband, she looked out the window and saw not sad things, but all the beauty in the world, such as, “the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life,” and “The delicious breath of rain was in the air.” The reader can infer that Mrs.Mallard acts this way because she believes she is now free. She even whispers the words “free, free, free!” even though she knows that feeling this way isn’t right and she even believes that she will weep again when she sees “the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.” So, even though Mrs.Mallard is …show more content…

When her sister first slowly breaks the news to her, she does as anyone who has just been told something so tragic would do, she falls into her sisters arms and starts to cry. She also says to her sister “Go away. I am not making myself ill.” which could lead the reader to believe that instead of needing the love and support from her family during this time in her life she isn’t upset so she doesn’t need it like her family assumes she does. She doesn't carry herself like a broken woman would, instead she “carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.” Even though Mrs.Mallard knows that she should be upset, she can’t bring herself to act like

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