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Response to a Short Story

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Response to a Short Story
Response to “The Story of an Hour” The story mainly talks about complex emotions of Mrs. Mallard towards the news of her husband’s death along with her inner reflections upon living, death, and freedom. The emotional change of Mrs. Mallard is an essential clue throughout the whole story. At first, she was deep in sorrow after hearing the bad news that “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment”. Then, she realized that her husband’s passing away actually set her free physically and mentally from another human being – as she whispered, “Free! Body and soul free!”. Living our lives to the fullest and enjoying every moment is what she meant by freedom. In the end, Mrs. Mallard “had died of heart disease – of joy that kills”. It was the pleasure of living free and alone that let her rest in peace endlessly. For me, one of the most striking images is that Mrs. Mallard continued whispering “Free, free, free!” to herself. The word “freedom” is the most obvious and direct message we can get from this character, Mrs. Mallard, that her distinctive understanding between living and death. There is no doubt that the idea of freedom also contributes to the major point of this story. “There would be no powerful will bending [Mrs. Mallard’s]…which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature”. Indeed, any kinds of intimate relationships tend to hold selfish motives and restrain our free wills. In this case, although we live in abundance with a loving family, the true happiness of internal freedom has been missing. When it comes to living without restrictions for self, affections and desires will be less significant – “what could love…count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which [Mrs. Mallard] suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!”. Even love can be worthless when we have the confidence and freedom in speaking resolutely about our opinions and demanding the rights that we believe we should have. That is the true life which every mankind should live for.

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