Reading Response to "The Story of an Hour"

In the short Story The Story of an Hour I believe the most important passage is the following “Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body”-(The Story of an Hour).

This passage is the most important because it embodies one of the most important theme of this story, the oppressiveness nature of marriage on a woman and the fact that the real tragedy of this story is the fact that her husband is alive and she died. In the short story the author goes into describing the setting of the story. It becomes apparent to the reader that it is spring. Spring is known as the time of renewal of lives. Just as a bear wakes up in the spring, after months of hibernation, Louise Mallard woke up from the horrid life she was living and got joy back into her life.

The first two sentences show of this passage shows that Louise Mallard understands that the death of her husband will be seen as a tragic event. So when she feels her happiness creeping up inside of her, she tries to fight it back. But her happiness will not be detained. The next two sentences show her truly finally accepting the joy that she has been trying to hold back. The statement “free, free, free!” shows that in her marriage she was oppressed. She was not able to live out her life the way she wanted to. When she screamed “free, free, free” she is finally accepting the autonomy that her husband’s death will bring.

The last couple of sentences of the passage depicted the renewal of life in Louise’s body. Ones eyes are said to be the window to ones soul. Louise Mallard’s eyes became “keen and bright,”(The Story of an Hour) which showed that she was becoming happy again. It later states that “ Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body,”(The Story of Hour). This showed that life was flowing through her body again and she is truly now at peace.

By the end of this short story it is reveled that her husband is not dead, and she dies from a heart attack. Her death was the true tragedy. After realizing joy, happiness and autonomy she dies unable to exercise the rights that had been withheld from her.