Mid-Term Writing Test

1. What is Louise Mallard’s opinion of marriage? Indicate the paragraph that suggests it?
Mrs. Mallard feels like she cannot live her life to the fullest because of marriage. She thinks her husband is controlling, and that being married means having to follow his will. It is clearly expressed in the text when the woman thinks, "there would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and woman believe they have right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination."

3. How does she feel about her future as a widow? Cite the line in the text, using just the first few words, then a series of dots …?
She realized that "she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers (...)", and that makes her extremely happy. She is impatient of starting her new life; a life in which she is free of living her own way. In other words, she welcomes the idea of this future.

6. Why did the author make the story so short?
The story is short because all the psychological evolution of the main character happens within one hour. From the moment she is told by her sister about her husband's death until she sees the latter enter the room, her feelings go gradually from deep sorrow to "the joy that kills". The fact that the story is so short shows that her psychological state evolves rapidly.

7. Explain how Louise can feel joy and sadness at the same time?
She feels joy in prevision of her new life as a free woman, but she is sad because of her husband's death. "She had loved him--sometimes", and it is always hard when someone you love dies; but she sees beyond that a great new life that will make her happy. "She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death. (...) But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.

Irony in the story
 
In The Story of An Hour, Kate Chopin shows the readers how marriage and relationships can be ironic. First, there is irony in the fact that the woman who is told about her husband's death, after weeping in her sister's arms, actually starts feeling happy about the matter. When she goes away to her room, refusing to see anyone, she is feeling grief and "a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul". That is usually a normal reaction for a wife who loses her husband; however, she ends up welcoming her fate. These are two completely opposite reactions, and they both happen simultaneously. Being sad and happy at the same time, even if it is fairly possible, is very ironic; and being happy about the death of someone you love is even more ironic.
 
Then, another irony that is present in the story is the special kind of love between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. They love each other, but she feels imprisoned in their relation. Kate Chopin even wrote: "And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not (...)", which expresses a certain irony. Mrs. Mallard is married to a man she doesn't always love, and she would prefer being alone and free. She obviously doesn't understand why she loves her husband, because she doesn't really like being with him. Yet, despite everything, the fact that she dies of "the joy that kills" means that she loved him; and even if she thought her new life would be great, she felt even happier when she saw him alive then when she realised she was free. In fact, love itself is a quite ironic phenomenon: people who are in love don't actually understand how they feel; and if one thinks he understand it, then it means he is not really in love.
 
Finally, the last irony I can find in The Story of An Hour is Mrs. Mallard's death. Her heart could not bear the prompt evolution of her feelings during this fatal hour, and it decided to give up. It is ironic that she died at the moment when her longing for life was the strongest. She felt alive, she had a hundred projects in mind, she was impatient to begin her new life as a widow. She had even just "breathed a quick prayer that life might be long". Unfortunately, her wish did not come true. As her joy was growing, it became so important that it ended up killing her. People usually die of intense sorrow, but not her: she died of extreme happiness. The irony of fate made her die of the most wonderful feeling in the world.