Story of an Hour

In "The story of an Hour", a short story by Kate Chopin, Louise Mallard is faced with the abrupt death of her husband. Mallard is then torn between her feelings of brief remorse and longing relief. Although Louise Mallard's reactions of relief and freedom after her husband's death make her seem like an unnatural, monstrous woman, she is not. Some may argue that because of Louise Mallard's uncontrolled whispers of "'Free, free, free!'" (445), she …

…was not the thought of the loss of her husband that made her so relieved it was the thought of the regaining of her lost self-assertion. She did not want to live with only love because "What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being" (445). Because of the loss of her husband she became human again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**