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Kate Chopin, "The Story of an Hour" on Mrs. Mallard Essay Example

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Kate Chopin, "The Story of an Hour" on Mrs. Mallard Essay Example
In this paragraph, the narrator’s depiction of Mrs. Mallard’s brief moment of illumination is illustrated in a very mellow-dramatic way. The reader can get a slight sense of sarcasm in the narrators tone and at the same time feel sorry for Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard seems to be quite selfish. She is not sad about her husband’s death; she is only thinking about how her life would be now that he is gone. Mrs. Mallard seldom talks for herself which makes the reader wonder how reliable the narration really is.

According to the narrator, it does not seem like Mrs. Mallard knows how to deal with her husband’s death. She seems confused. She does not know whether she is happy or sad but in this specific paragraph the reader senses that the narrator thinks that Mrs. Mallard is happy as her tone is casual yet dramatic and excited .The narrator says that from now on Mrs. Mallard can live for herself; she can do whatever she pleases without having to please anyone else. She feels that whether she is doing something good or bad it does not matter because from now on it is all about her. The fact that the word freedom is being repeated, the image a prisoner being set free is created. Mrs. Mallard seems to have been a prisoner in her own marriage. Even though “she had loved him -- sometimes” it seems like the marriage was not about love as much as it was about financial comfort and social acceptance. It does not seem like she loved her husband much and there is a feeling that he loved her more than she loved him and she did not appreciate his love. Mrs. Mallard probably did not invest in the marriage as much as her husband did. She took her husband and her life with him for granted and now she cannot face his death with a realistic insight. She escapes from reality and denies her emotions of sadness as she is not strong enough to face the recent tragedy. She lacks emotional skills to deal with her situation. She runs away from the past and the present and concentrates on her

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