Assignment #7

Katarzyna Urbanska

ENG 102 – 0826

Dr. Lykourgos Vasileiou

4/29/10

Louise Mallard's intertwined identity.

In her tale, “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin critiques the oppression of wives in late 19^th century by introducing readers to the character of Mrs. Mallard, who progresses from repression to self rediscovery as the end of the story gradually nears. At the beginning, she is a big mystery for the reader, and then we see her transformation, from a grieving wife to a liberated and finally dead woman, whose life ends in a surprising way, or was it?

At the beginning of the story, the author introduces to us the main character referring to her as Mrs. Mallard or “she”, and till the moment where we learn about her husband’s death we don’t even know her name. Chopin initially portrays her in a way that the readers have an image of an old, tired, fragile and weak woman with a troubled heart. The phrase “troubled heart” could be seen to have a double meaning – one portraying a physically weak heart or one filled with emotional fatigue. In a sense, Mrs. Mallard is a complete enigma as much to the reader as she is to herself at the unset of this intense story. Nevertheless, and thus, her sister reveals her husband’s death to Mrs. Mallard in the most gentle way “…in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing.”(516) At the same time, when she learns about her husband’s death we learn a little bit more about her true features and finally her name. Now we know that her name is Louise and she is quite a young woman.

Louise Mallard’s reaction to the news about her husband’s death also marks the beginning of her initial transformation. She starts the grieving widow reacting in typical expected way, as a wife should, to the message about the deadly accident that took her husband’s life, then immediately and sincerely “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.”(516) But her grief is short, just as sudden her husband’s death was. And then, as she is alone in her room, at once far apart, yet feeling the tentacles of the world trying to touch her, something starts to change as a veil of her grief begins to lift and the fatigue in her heart turns onto joy. She is not sure what is happening with her, “ There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name”(517) It was the beginning of another stage of her transformation when “She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her.”(517) It was the moment when she realizes that from powerless woman she is now becoming a liberated one, “…a little whispered world escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!””(517) For some Louis Mallard’s change from the grieving wife to a monstrously joyful woman can be seen as distasteful, yet it is apparent she is not happy about the fact of her husband’s death, rather her happiness comes from the realization of freedom which has come from his death. She sees “…a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.”(517) Mrs. Mallard appears to be transforming from a weak individual to someone who gains a distinct, no longer dependent of another, self image. But again, this time her joy, as the grief before, vanishes rather quickly.

When Mrs. Mallard earns the knowledge of her husband’s death, we see the final stage of her transformation- her death. Whereas initially her new identity transforms Mrs. Mallard onto Louise, with the surprising sight of her husband she transcends back to Mrs. Mallard, and greeting her final moment as the doctor diagnoses her death as “…heart disease – of joy that kills.”(517); however, we could also assume it was aggravated by the realization that her newly discovered freedom was suddenly gone, and so was the life from her heart once again strongly besieged by the weight of another. Her new identity evaporates and so does her life!

This story is an impressive literary piece; it touches the reader’s feelings as well as his/her mind. There are many questions that could be posed and many aspects to be considered. We might want to know, and could speculate about Mr. Richards relationship to Mrs. Mallard or what could Louise do with her newly found freedom given the nature of those times. But in this short story the only thing essentially clear and evident is the transformation of Mrs. Mallard onto Louise. She is both the main character and the protagonist of this story, or perhaps she is Kate Chopin herself? It is an interesting question since Chopin lived and wrote in the same time frame as the story she tells. It is known that her husband died prematurely and at that time women authors were often looked upon with a frown. Chopin had the need to show how women were portrayed by the 19^th century society, particularly wives by their husbands- as weak creatures who were not able to take care of themselves, who didn’t have many rights which now we consider basic.