The Story of an Hour - Book Report/Review Example

Upon hearing this, the widowed wife quietly wept. However, unlike a typical woman who would have felt deep grief during that tragic moment, Mrs. Mallard was void of such emotion. If truth be told, she merely found happiness as she locked herself in the room. She experienced joy because his death meant liberation for her.As she looked outside of the open square window, she discerned strange feelings that she had never felt before. With this sense of rebirth, she felt young and happy as if the sun has finally shone.

Not used to these emotions, Mrs. Mallard intently pondered. How could this possibly happen when her husband had just passed away At last, she admitted to herself that, living with her husband, she had been restrained. Now she finally had a new-found freedom that she had not been given the chance to enjoy when her husband was still alive. All she ever wanted in the marriage was freedom. She explicitly expressed her feelings as she whispered, "Free! Body and soul free!" She felt her body and soul being freed from her husband and the torment he brought upon her.

The anguish was fleeing from her life. Given this gist, it becomes evident that the story centers the concept of "freedom." This word has various meanings to people depending on their education level or background. In this case, Chopin tackles freedom through the liberation of the soul from the emotionally entrapped body. The character of Mrs. Mallard exemplifies such a feminine soul desperately searching for her own freedom in a place she calls home. With her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard was emancipated and no longer played the victim of her husband's suppressive masculine ideology.

In the story, Chopin writes, "And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, could for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being" With this, the author reveals that Mrs. Mallard's feelings toward her deceased husband were not always consistent. She admitted her love for him, but most of the time she knew this was not heart-felt for there was something more she craved.

By living with someone who she did not love, she created a barrier between herself and her husband. By being barricaded like a bird trapped in a cage, her feelings worsened. As time went by, those feelings turned burdensome and brought misery every aspect of her life. On the contrary, it may be arguable to say that she may have loved him. However, the conclusion reached is crystal clear, Mrs. Mallard was glad that he was gone. She repeated muttered under her breath, "free, free, free, free!

" Realization dawned on her that with her husband out of the picture, the weight of her husband's suppression, which lasted for years, had finally been lifted off of her shoulders. This brought her joy and left her with an ultimate freedom that she had fervently sought for. It was also apparent that the effect of freedom greatly shocked Mrs. Mallard. To someone who was deprived of freedom for so long, it seemed as if a new world was being revealed. She was more used to the feeling of oppression when her husband was alive.

This was not surprising since, for years, she was a prisoner in her own home. Even though there were no bars, no