Short Questions
Part – 1
(a) How did Mrs Mallard react when her sister Josephine broke the news of Mr Mallard’s death?
Answer : Keeping in view Mrs Mallard’s affliction with heart trouble, her sister Josephine took every care to convey the news of her husband’s sudden death as gently as possible. In broken sentences, with veiled hints, she broke the sad news to Mrs Mallard. It was feared that she might receive a sudden shock. But Mrs Mallard acted differently from most women in the same position. She wept passionately in her sister’s arms with wild abandonment. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.
Once she was alone in her room, she sank into a comfortable chair. She was pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach her soul.
(b) Sitting in the comfortable roomy chair, Mrs Mallard faces the window. What does she see outside the window? What is its symbolic significance?
Answer : Once Mrs Mallard is alone, in her room, she sinks into the comfortable roomy chair. In front of her is the open window. She looks out. There is an open square before the house. It is the beginning of spring. The tops of the trees are all acquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain is in the air. In the street below peddlers move about selling their wares. Their cries can easily be heard. The twittering of sparrows in the caves can also be heard.
All this is highly symbolic. The writer has tired to reflect Mrs Mallard’s state of mind through the imagery of these objects of nature. The tops of the trees are quivering with the new spring life. They symbolize the feeling of a new life, one of complete freedom of body and soul. The delicious breath of rain, the twittering of sparrows symbolize Mrs Mallard’s imaginings how she will live freely and happily for herself without being accountable to anyone for her actions.
(c) Do you agree with the view that ‘The Story of an Hour’ is the forerunner of feminist writings?
Answer : In most of our feminist writings, there is a protest against patriarchal system in which women are deliberately subordinated to men. In such works invariably the woman rebels against exploitation and suppression and asserts her right to freedom, equality and individuality.
Kate Chopin is not a feminist writer. In fact the word feminist was not even heard of when Kate Chopin wrote. But her works show that she was concerned about women’s plight in the social set up which was largely make oriented.
‘The Story of an Hour’ gives enough clues to the fact that Mrs Mallard is a victim of the prevalent social norms and values. She feels oppressed, stifled and miserable about her married life. That is why, when the news of the death of her husband comes, her first reaction is shedding tears in wild abandonment in her sister’s arms. She goes back to her room where she experiences something she has never imagined. It is the sensation of being free from the clutches of her husband.
Then she thinks of her future life. She exults, though somewhat badly, thinking: “Free body and soul free”. She gets excited about her new life without her husband. She breathes a quick prayer that life may be long. Only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that “life might be long”. She knows that she will weep on seeing her husband’s dead face – “the face that had never looked save with love upon her. ” The new life, without him, would be such in which she would live only for herself. This type of vision clearly shows that she has been unhappy about her married life. Her vision of free life without on oppressing husband, suddenly gets smashed with the sudden appearance of her ‘dead’ husband, it causes her instant death.
Thus we can say that Kata Chopin is indeed the forerunner of feminist writing.
Part – 2
(a) “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it fearfully.”
What was it that was coming for her? Why was she waiting for it fearfully?
Answer : Once Mrs Mallard was alone in her room she sat down in a comfy chair. She felt depleted. Quite absent-mindedly, suddenly, she realized that an unknown feeling or knowledge was approaching her. It seemed too subtle and elusive. She tried to resist before succumbing to this new knowledge i.e. a feeling of freedom. She felt a kind of excitement about the chance to make her own decisions and not feel accountable to anyone. She felt even more swept by the idea of freedom than the fact that she had sometimes felt love for her husband. She focused on only one thing, how liberated she would feel. She would enjoy complete freedom of body and soul. She began to imagine those years when she will live for herself and will not feel accountable to anyone.
Mrs Mallard was waiting for this feeling of freedom fearfully. She dreaded the new feeling that had begun to possess her. She could not resist it. It was revelation to her that she now was free. She had a vision of a bright future.
(b) What impression do you form of the married life of Mrs and Mr Mallard?
Answer : From the veiled hints scattered throughout the story we come to know about the married life of Mrs and Mr Mallard. We are told that her young and fair complexioned but calm face with the wrinkles on it bespoke of repression. There was a dull stare in her eyes whose gaze was fixed away on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection but rather the indication of suspension of intelligent thought.
From the story it is quite clear that Mrs Mallard was unhappy about her married life. She always felt suffocated but gradually she became sued to it. It was only after the ‘death’ of her husband that she realized that she would enjoy complete freedom of body and soul. She imagines those years when she will live for herself and will not be accountable to her husband for her actions. She feels “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.” All this points out to the fact that Mrs and Mr Mallard were not leading a happy conjugal life.
(c) The ending of the story is meaningful and justified. Discuss.
Answer : ‘The Story of an Hour’, is a very meaningful story. Events take place so quickly that one simply wonders at the turns and twists. Mrs Mallard, a heart patient is told gently the news of her husband’s death. Her reaction is instant. She weeps bitterly in her sister’s arms. Then she goes to her room.
When she is alone in her room a feeling of freedom seizes her. She is excited about freedom of her body and soul. She is internally happy that now she will not be accountable to her husband for her actions. But her vision of a happy future gets shattered. When she comes down, she finds herself face to face with her husband. She is shocked and this shock is too much for her. She dies instantly.
Though the ending of the story is a bit melodramatic yet it seems to be quite satisfying. We feel that the ending is quite appropriate in the context. It clearly underlies the importance of time in our life. In less than an hour Mrs Mallard has an idea of a whole different future, different from her ‘unhappy’ past with her husband. Her excitement about her free life is justified if we take into consideration various cues in the text about her unhappy married life. Her dreams gets shattered and the blow proves to be too much. Her weak heart sinks not out of ‘joy’ on seeing the face of her ‘dead’ husband but out of her sudden realization of the death of her dream.
Thus, the ending of the story is meaningful and justified. No other change can be more apt in the context.
Long Questions
Question 1 : ‘The Story of an Hour’ may be considered as the forerunner of feminist writings. Do you think so? Elaborate with reference to the text.
Answer : In most of our feminist writings there is a direct and loud assault on, or at least a protest against, the patriarchal system in which women are deliberately subordinated to men. In such works the woman often emerges to be a rebel against her exploitation in order to seek freedom, equality and individuality.
Kate Chopin, the author of ‘The Story of an Hour’, is not a feminist writer as she wrote in a period when feminism was not even heard of. But her works show that she was concerned about women’s plight in the existing social set-up which was essentially male dominated.
‘The Story of an Hour’ gives enough clues to the fact that Mrs Mallard is a victim of the prevalent social norms and values. She feels oppressed, stifled and miserable about her married life. That is why, when the news of the death of her husband comes, her first reaction is shedding tears in wild abandonment in her sister’s arms. She goes back to her room where she experiences something she had never imagined. It is the sensation she has never imagined. It is the sensation of being free from the clutches of her husband. The view outside her window seen by her is suggestive of freshness and freedom:
The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.
Then she think of her future life. She exults, though somewhat badly, thinking : “Free body and soul free”. She gets excited about her new life without her husband. She breathes a quick prayer that life may be long. Only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that “life might be long”. She knows that she will weep on seeing her husband’s dead face – “the face that had never looked save with love upon her”. She feels that she loved him – ‘sometimes’. The new life, without him, would be such in which she would live only for herself. This type of vision clearly shows that she has been unhappy about her married life. Her vision of free life without an oppressing husband, when suddenly gets smashed with the sudden appearance of her ‘dead’ husband, causes her instant death. The doctors call it a death caused by excessive and sudden joy that shocked her weak heart.
Thus, the story reveals the true feelings of a married woman on the supposed death of a husband. There is some feminist touch in the whole situation.
Question 2 : It is true that sometimes drastic changes occur in our life in a short span of time, and our life is changed completely. Do you agree? Discuss with reference to the story entitled ‘The Story of an Hour’.
Answer : There is no doubt that time plays an important role in our life. Sometimes we experience so much in a brief span of time that we have never experienced before. Some events or remarks can change our life drastically once and for all.
The events that take place in ‘The Story of an Hour’ covers a short span of only one hour. Focuses on the supposed death of Mr Mallard and its effect on Mrs Mallard’s life, and shows that in an hour, life can change drastically and a person can change dramatically.
Mrs Mallard’s husband has not actually died in the train accident. When the news of his death reaches her, she weeps at once with sudden wild abandonment in her sister’s arms. But the moment the storm of grief has spent itself she goes away to her room. She would have no one follow her. She locks herself in. She spends less than an hour procession the news that her husband has died. She moves rapidly through her grief and arrives at a ‘dream’. It is what her life by herself will be. She feels that now, there would be no one to live for her during those coming years. She would live for herself. Acknowledging that she is now free, fully liberated, she doesn’t consider whether she should feel bad about it. Now there would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon fellow-creature. She continues in her state of strange happiness to muse:
“Free body and soul free!”
In less than an hour, Mrs Mallard gets used to the idea of a completely different future. There is a drastic change in her life and she is excited about it. She breathes a quick prayer that life may be long. Only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that ‘life might be long’. Within an hour, Mrs Mallard has changed drastically.
But nothing is constant in life, not even a dream of happiness. The work of a few seconds changes the life dramatically. Mr Mallard, the ‘dead’ husband returns and seeing him alive Mrs Mallard is unable to bear the shock. She dies, perhaps of too much joy – of joy that kills. When the doctors come they say she has died of heart failure. This dramatic change blows up Mrs Mallard’s dream of a possible future freedom.
Thus, in a brief span of an hour, two important events take place on the physical plane and one on the mental , and the three are interconnected and affect the whole course of the life of Mrs Mallard.
Question 3 : Mrs Mallard’s death at the end of the story shows that she was in fact so grief-stricken that her death was only a matter of time. Discuss and elaborate.
Answer : In ‘The Story of an Hour’ we find that Mrs Mallard was a heart patient. When the news of her husband’s death reached his friend Richard and her sister Josephine, every care was taken to break to her the sad news as gently as possible. When the news was disclosed, Mrs Mallard’s reaction was instant. She did not show paralyzed inability to accept the significance of the news like many women. She wept at once, with wild abandon, in her sister’s room.
Then she went to her room to spend some moments in isolation. She stopped anyone coming to her room. She saw a scene of freshness and freedom outside her window. We are told:
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair. She sobbed lightly. Then something lightly came to her. She was waiting for it, fearfully. She dreaded the new feeling that had begun to possess her. But she could not resist it. It was the revelation to her that she was now free. Her body and mind were both free. She had a vision of bright future. She told to herself that she would live for herself.
“……..she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.”
Are these feelings the result of grief or joy? If we keep in mind the subtle clues given in the test she was unhappy about her married life. Her husband seems to be a repressive, unloving, uncaring type. The freedom from her was clearly a matter of celebration. She celebrates his death inwardly, though she knew she would weep again on seeing her husband’s dead face “that had never looked save with love upon her….”
When the ‘dead’ husband suddenly appears, she died a sudden death of “joy” in the words of the doctors. But what about her vision of freedom. She died on seeing the death of her dream on the face of her husband who was still alive. So it was wrong to say that she was so grief-stricken that her death was only a matter of time.
Question 4 : Comment on the ending of the story. Do you like it, or would you like it end in some other way? Discuss with reference to the story.
Answer : The events in ‘The Story of an Hour’ happen so quickly that one is amazed at the turns and twists. When Mrs Mallard, a heart patient, is told gently the news of the death of her husband, her reaction is instant , unlike those of many other women. She weeps at once, in complete abandonment, in her sister’s arms. Then she goes to her room to be by herself.
In the loneliness , she looks out of the window at a world that seems alive and fresh. She sobs occasionally and then muses over the event. Then suddenly a feeling of freedom seizes her. She dreads it at first. She stops feeling bad about it. She is excited about her free body and free soul. She has a vision of a life which she will live for herself. She will not be accountable to anyone. Her vision is suddenly broken by the voice of her sister.
Accompanied by her sister she comes down, and suddenly she finds herself face to face with her ‘dead’ husband. Richards, her husband’s friend, quickly tries to screen Mr Mallard from the view of his wife, but it is too late. Mrs Mallard dies instantly. The doctors who are summoned proclaim that she “died of heart disease – of joy that kills.”
Though the ending of the story is a bit melodramatic, yet it seems to be quite satisfying. Any other way of ending it would only diminish its charm. Supposing Mrs Mallard does not die and shows her happiness on seeing her husband alive, her earlier feelings of freedom, her dream of a free, independent life, becomes totally meaningless.
We feel that the ending is quite appropriate in the context. It clearly underlies the importance of time in our life. In less than an hour Mrs Mallard has an idea of a whole different future, different from her ‘unhappy’ past with her husband. Her excitement about her free life is justified if we take into consideration various cues in the text about her unhappy married life. Her dream gets shattered and the blow proves to be too much. Her weak heart sinks not out of ‘joy’ on seeing the face of her ‘dead’ husband but out of the sudden realization of the death of her dream.
Thus, the ending of the story is meaningful and justified. No other change can be more apt in the context.