Mallard receiving the troubling news of her husbands' sudden death from a railroad accident. The use of symbolism is made through connections with nature. "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring of life" (Chopin). Mrs. Mallard begins to experience a sensation of a new being. What is expected of her reaction is that of deep sorrow and regret, but in direct contrast, she is reborn. "There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully
she felt it creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air" (Chopin). What was finally coming to her was her deserved freedom. She was no longer Mrs. Mallard, but her own individual. She would finally be able to "live for herself
spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own" (Chopin). Unfortunately, the news of her husband's accident was in itself an accident. In the end of the story, her husband walks through the front door, and in the process Mrs. Mallard "had died of heart disease- of joy that kills"…