The Story of an Hour (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

At a glance:

In “The Story of an Hour,” the fact that Mrs. Mallard is “afflicted with a heart trouble” becomes an ironic reality, for Mrs. Mallard's “heart trouble” in the beginning of the story is that she feels emotionally thwarted in her marriage. When her husband is believed to have been killed in a train accident, her friends notify her cautiously, assuming she will be devastated. The news, however, brings her tears of release rather than of grief. She is enlivened by her new situation and symbolically insists that all the doors of the house be opened. When Brently Mallard suddenly returns home, however, Mrs. Mallard's death is both literal and symbolic—in one hour, her freedom has been won and lost. For Chopin, Mrs. Mallard represents the numerous women who silently bear the feelings of being trapped in unhappy marriages but whose escapes could be ephemeral at best.

Bibliography

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