The Story of an Hour

            When I finished reading the story, I was completely flabbergasted; I had no idea what the heck just happened. I had to re-read it a few more times and in-depth this time, I literally pored over every word searching for any hints that might explain what happened.
            What confused me the most was, “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully” (Chopin, 193-9.) I figured that was because she was experiencing sorrow and heartbreak for the first time following her husband’s death. But then the story twists into a plot of, “She did not stop to ask if it were not a monstrous joy that held her” (Chopin, 194-12). Joy? Someone who were happily married and someone who loved would never feel that way with death of someone very close to her.
            I honestly don’t think I have enough evidence in the story or details that could tell me whether Mrs. Mallard was abused (emotionally or physically). My theory that she was set up to be married to Bentley Mallard by her parents and I assume people who married without love would most likely be unhappy inside? This theory of mine is derived from the book where it said, “There will be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature” (Chopin, 194-14) and “yet she had loved him – sometimes” (Chopin, 194-15.) It is possible to love someone when you have been with him for many years even when you don’t intentionally mean to love him hence the “sometimes” statement.
            So with the theory of mine, I actually think it makes sense why Mrs. Mallard is relieved to be let go of the “burden,” (for the lack of a better word) of her marriage. I think it is very interesting in the end when Mrs. Mallard died – as a reader myself, I know the thoughts in her mind, the emotions she felt before she died so it gives me another perspective of why she really died. Did she die from the joy that her husband was indeed alive? Or did she die from the sheer horror that he was alive, from actual heartbreak knowing she would now never be free? I believe it is the latter, because I think when the author said “joy that kills” (Chopin, 194-23) she is actually talking about the “monstrous joy that held her”.
            That joy is what made her want to live, didn’t it?