The story of an hour is a dramatic destiny of Mrs. Mallard. The title of the story speaks for itself. The story begins with introduction of main characters to the reader and with description of key events. Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble and her sister Josephine, her husband's friend Richard did their best to break to Mrs. Mallard as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.
The first passage appears to be exposition, 'cause it contains a short presentation of time, place and characters of the story. Besides, from the very beginning the absence of Mrs. Mallard's name draws our attention.
Further, the author describes Mrs. Mallard's state, how she accepted the news. He writes: "She didn't hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance". So this makes us think that she didn't accept her husband's death as a fact, but realized its significance for her, perhaps she imagined her further life without her husband, she started thinking of the way her life would change.
"There stood, facing the open window..." There's a slight hint in this sentence, that those changes will be closely connected with the improvement of her life and "the open window" the description of awakened nature in spring suggest it.
Here we should admit the beauty of the language the author uses. "The delicious breath of rain... There were patches of blue sky..." The epithet and metaphor are employed for the expressiveness while describing nature.
The decisive moment comes when... whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "Free, free, free!" It's the climax of the story. The metaphor "escape" reveals Mrs. Mallard's state. She was unconscious of her dream to be free. Every inch of her body wished that freedom and now she realized it. She was even glad that her husband died.
But the oxymoron "a monstrous joy" suggests that her reaction was abnormal. She was unhappy in her family life. Her husband "never looked save with love upon her. And she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely...she would live for herself..."
The antithesis in the sentence "And yet she had loved him - sometimes. Often she had not." makes us arrive at a definite conclusion that all her love towards her husband was just an illusion. But still in spite of all this she shouldn't react in this way, it wasn't correct. She was too joyful. The metaphor "she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window", the climax "spring days and summer days and all sorts of days"; the epithet "feverish triumph in her eyes" are employed to emphasize her state and unnatural behaviour.
The denouement isn't less unexpected than Mrs. Mallard's reaction. The crucial moment came when Mr. Mallard, which was said to be dead, safe and sound opened the front door. Mrs. Mallard was shocked and died of heart disease. The doctors said that it was joy that killed her. But it wasn't joy, it was despair. All her dreams about free life were broken by her husband and she couldn't live with him any more. She hoped that she had got rid of him, that the destiny made her a present and all her dull life was very far. And when her husband ruined all this she couldn't forgive him. For just an hour she was born again, lived in the world of her dreams and died. She wanted freedom and reached it, but was dead.
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A number of messages are conveyed in this story. A human being is born to be free, but he couldn't just rely on destiny and wait for freedom, he must fight for it and then he'll deserve that freedom.
It's a sin to be glad for somebody's death, and one will be punished for it. It is quite difficult to forgive a man, but one should do his best to forgive and give a man another chance.
The story under the title Mother written by Grace Paley is in the form of the authors recollections of the parents, mainly of the mother. We are informed that one day listening to the radio the author realized the deep sense in the song Oh, I Long to See My Mother in the Doorway.
The fact is many of the mentioned memories are displayed with the mother standing in the doorway. Its obvious this detail carries some meaning for us. And reading we come across the following sentence which seems of great importance to us: she did stand frequently in various doorways. It demonstrates the mother wasnt satisfied with the narrators behavior or actions, perhaps was even angry, and just wanted to give a parental lesson to the child as many mothers do. Perhaps the author wasnt in agreement with such a teacher. Now, however, through a time the author would be glad if the mother was alive, if she stood in the doorway like she used to.
So, speaking in general, the story is about love to our dear mothers, who try to do their best and to accomplish their first duty bringing up well-bred, intelligent children, the followers of the human race. The authors message to the readers is as follows we shouldnt neglect this love but cherish it and keep safely in our hearts as one day our mothers will be gone.
What concerns the style of the story, the author applied the familiar-colloquial style, used in very free, friendly, informal situations of communication. Such a swearword as damned fool can be a good evidence.
While reading the story, not once we find the represented speech of the characters:
By God! I said, I understand that song. or She said, Go to sleep for godsakes This kind of a device intensifies the influence of the tale told to the readers.
The case of asyndeton in the following sentence helps to clear the dreams of the character concerning the mother: Naturally for the rest of my life I longed to see her, not only in doorways, in a great number of places in the dining room with my aunts, at the window looking up and down the block, in the country garden among zinnias and marigolds, in the living room with my father.
Besides, the repetition of the pronoun they in the following sentences makes us decide the parents were a strong-united couple, sharing their views, interests and love: They sat in comfortable leather chairs. They were listening to Mozart. They looked at one another amazed.
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It was quite enough to prove their love, but the author added some more sentences again with the repeated phrases to make an impression on us, illustrating their sympathy and respect to each other during the whole life: It seemed to them that theyd just come over on the boat. Theyd just learned the first English words. It seemed to them that he had just proudly handed in a 100 percent correct exam to the American anatomy professor. It seemed as though shed just quit the shop for the kitchen.
So much love in such a little tale!
We should mention here as well the short sentences after each of the descriptions of the father and the mother. The author just says: Then she died. or Then he died. giving the reason to consider the narrator was not thinking of their death, took it for granted. The grief was no more important. Really important was the authors realization of the song, the wish to see the mother, even if she was angrily staying in the doorway.
To crown it all I would like to support the authors idea, as people are intended not to care of a thing when they have it and to sorry after losing it. Mothers are those who gave us birth, so we must love them with all our heart.
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