After reading Chopin's short story The Story of an Hour I was very shocked at the ending. At first I felt sorry for Mrs. Mallard but as her feelings changed I thought why if she felt so trapped in her marriage did she not try to get out of it. But after a while my emotions changed to agree more with her and actually be happy that she felt relieve that her husband had died and that finally she had felt self assertion. I think that the only thing that I can relate is that I too would react with tears if I found out that my husband had died in an accident.
The setting that the Chopin uses is a surprising one, because the reader would have never guessed that at the end Mr. Mallard shows up very well alive and Mrs Mallard dies of heart disease. Chopin sets everything up as to where the reader begins to think that Mrs. Mallard will finally be able to be on her own and do with her live as she wishes, and all her 'freedom' is taken by the sight of her live husband. Overall what Chopin was pointing out to the reader is that you never know what can happen; and she made her point very clear when Mr. Mallard shows up at the end.
I wonder what would of happened if Mr. Mallard had never shown up, how would Mrs. Mallard have gone about with her life?
