The Story takes place in the 19th Century where women didn’t have any rights, where women were oppressed. In “The Story of an Hour” By Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state starts off with sadness, grief, and exhaustion. Halfway into the story the illustrator describes Mrs. Mallard quoting, “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression” which reminded me of this quote in the poem “The wife” by Emily Dickinson “it lay unmentioned, as the sea develops pearl and weed”. The connection I discovered was the repression that was unspoken of by Mrs. Mallard, but it was an obvious observation to know that she was suppressed emotionally and physically. Being a wife meant taking commands and rising to requirements as Emily Dickinson poetically describes a wife. Mrs. Mallard’s emotions became ecstatic when she realized she would be free from the chains of enslavement. In the poem “Dropped the playthings of her life to take the honorable work of woman and of wife”, shows the connection of self-neglect that Mrs. Mallard comes to realize she will no longer possess in conclusion of her husband’s death. All of the excitement and longing for her freedom comes to an end when Mrs. Mallard passes away from a joyful fantasy.
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7 thoughts on “Discussion 9, Janice Boelk”
Janice, thank you for jumping in so quickly and for this good discussion of some connections between the Dickinson poem and the Chopin story. I think, however, that Mrs. Mallard passes away from the wiping out of that “joyful fantasy” she thought for a few moments would be hers. Poor thing.
Hi, Professor Conway!
Thank you so much for pointing that out, I definitely perceived it differently. I agree with you! Poor lady.
Hello Janice, yes you are right when i was reading the story it seems Mrs. Mallard was very depressed within her marriage, but at first i found it selfish how she reacted to her husband death but reading further explained a lot about her marriage. Going into her room after she got the news i thought she did that because she did not want anyone to really see how she felt about his death and how happy it mad her because she was finally “free, free, free”.
Yes, it sounds very different to us because having those same feelings in todays world are seen as sinister and unhealthy. I understand her completely, times were very different back then.
Hello Janice! I truly enjoyed reading your discussion post. I really liked your first sentence where you explain the time and setting of the story. This helps to support why I think Mrs. Mallard feels so upset and broken after her husband’s death. Because women did not have rights and were opressed they look at their husbands at a high standard and believed that they needed validation, and that they had to drop everything in their life to become the perfect wife. I included this in my discussion.
Hi, Ainoon!
Yes, I agree. Women needed the support and validation from men back then, they weren’t allowed to do anything without men’s approval which they didn’t have much of that either. I’m so grateful that times have changed and we are free to do anything we want.
Hello Janice When reading the poem I had a really hard time making a connection past the first four lines. I never knew what Emily meant with “it lay unmentioned, as the sea develops pearl and weed.” but your connection is interesting to me. Also I might be wrong about this but I think that Mrs. Mallard died due to the fact that the husband she once thought was dead had showed up in front of her eyes which resulted in the loss of her sought after freedom.