The Story of an Hour Short Summary

Story of an Hour is an 1898 short novel written by Kate Chopin. The first sentences already reveal not that Mrs. Mallard is suffering from a heart condition. At the same time, the readers learn that her husband died. It is her sister Josephine who comes with Richard to break the news of her husband’s death to her. Richards, The friend of Mrs. Mallard’s husband, was the first to hear the news. He confirmed from reliable sources to be sure it was not a mistake.

The focus of the second paragraph of this story is exclusively on Mrs. Mallard the reaction to the news. Though these are sad times, she cannot help but notice that the world as seen from her window is lively. Everything oozes of freshness. She looks at the blue sky and the singing birds amid her sobs. The narrator then gives the description the Mrs. Mallard physical appearance. She looks cuts a figure of a woman who is full of intelligence notwithstanding the glassy look from her eyes.

All of a Sudden, she begins to feel something over her; there is a sensation creeping over her. After taking a deep breath, she starts repeating words, “free, free, free!” However, she does not notice this. The glassy look she had disappears. Though she knows the site of her husband’s corpse would make her sad, she is happy that she would enjoy more freedom after that. She thinks of the relationship she had with the husband and admits there were those times she did not love him. In the middle of the thought of about the freedom, her sister begs her to open the door. She fears Mrs. Mallard might become even weaker. Mrs. Mallard responds that she is fine.

She finally allows Josephine to open the door. Josephine leads her downstairs to the waiting Richards. When the door opens Brently Mallard, the husband she thought dead appeared. There is a moment of confusion. It turns out that Mr. Mallard was far from the accident scene and was not even aware it took place. Without any further narration of what happens after that, the story end. The readers are left to make their assumptions and speculate what happened next. However, one thing is obvious; the freedom that Mrs. Mallard thought she would have was not going to be there.