No name Mrs. Mallard

 

    Upon reading "The Story of an Hour" for the first time, (with absolutely no context), I expected it to be a rather typical story of grief and loss. That being my mind set from the beginning, it was easy to ignore the fact that the classic stages of grief were no where in sight throughout this short story. I did notice immediately that while Chopin chose to name of all the secondary characters of this story, she opted to leave Mrs. Mallard's first name out. While I didn't know why until the very end, I believe this is a hugely telling choice made by Chopin to bolster the idea that Mrs. Mallard had never found her voice throughout her life. She never felt true freedom until moments after learning of her husbands passing. And while my knee jerk reaction was to think of how cold Mrs. Mallard was being, after rereading "The Story of an Hour" I began to identify with her, and almost celebrate her husbands death right alongside her.

    As I mentioned, I was so quick to pigeonhole Mrs. Mallard into the role of grieving wife, I overlooked Chopins' use of rather positive descriptors of Mrs. Mallards' surroundings directly after receiving this life- altering news. The "delicious breath of rain" or of her hearing a "distant song", read more as a woman who could possibly be trying to ignore the deeply painful news she just received by immersing herself in her surroundings. Maybe even overly focusing on the "patches of blue skies" as a way to distract herself from this tragic event. 

    It took me well into paragraph nine, that I realized something was up. As a sufferer of anxiety and panic attacks, I imposed my own emotions on Mrs. Mallard. So while reading paragraph ten, I recognized the fastening of her breath and the sense that "something was coming to her" as typical panic attack symptoms. I have experienced these exact feelings of "fear" during emotionally taxing times in my life as well. So you can imagine my surprise when under her breath, Mrs. Mallard whispered she was"free, free, free". Now suddenly, it all made sense. And while this may seem like a callous reaction to an otherwise sad event, within the context of Mrs. Mallards' life, it was totally appropriate. The "monstrous joy" she felt upon having the epiphany that she was truly free to live for herself now, no longer for her husband, made me happy for her. So essentially, the end of her husbands life, really marked the beginning of Mrs. Mallards'. As we know, the archetypal wife, especially during the time in which this story is written, was  meant to be seen not heard. The archetypal wife had no life of her own, but to serve her husband regardless of love or the absence there of. Mrs. Mallard would go on to describe the idea of marriage as almost criminal. 

    In the end, I was truly rooting for Mrs. Mallard and her new lease on life. While she descended the stairs into her future, I could almost feel the same sense of freedom she felt. Therefore, the irony of her death was shocking. She was so close to the freedom and identity she longed for. 

    I can't help but wonder if her story had continued, would we eventually learn the significant detail that was Mrs. Mallards' name ? Something that seems so elementary, but so crucial to someones' identity. Unfortunately even in death, she remained unnamed, still just known as "Mrs. Mallard" or an extension of her husband. Regardless, I am glad she got to experience those fleeting feelings of euphoria, even if it was just for an hour.