The Story of an Hour

“She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.”

Mrs. Mallard is grieving her husband’s death, but when this scene is described, it shows springtime and something beautiful. I think it may symbolize the beginning of a new life for her without her husband. She realizes that now she is free from being dominated by a male and this is a new beginning for her. Unfortunately, she has heart problems and then in the end dies of heart disease.

The subject of living in a male-dominated society in Kate Chopin’s time is a very important. Many women felt dominated by men and women did not even have a right to vote. The story does not directly say that her husband was a dominant man, but it does have a moment of realization for Mrs. Mallard. “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” Mrs. Mallard realized she was free and got very excited by it. In a way, this hints that her husband may have been very dominant of her.