The Story of an Hour

After reading “The Story of an Hour” I didn’t feel that Louise would have wished her husband dead, but I think after she learned of his death, she felt a sense of independence and new found perspective on her life. She wouldn’t have felt the joy or wonder if she didn’t experience the full impact of loss. If he hadn’t died she would have gone on with her life never knowing the feelings she was harboring. In paragraph 19 she is thinking about the long days ahead she will have all to her own, to do whatever she wants and it was only the day before she dreaded the thought of the long days in front of her. She didn’t want to live a long life as her husband’s wife. Then, suddenly she is, “Free! Body and soul free!”

When she discovers that her husband is not actually dead she is in such shock that she collapses and dies. Her previously euphoric feeling was squashed as if someone threw water on a fire. In a short period of time she experienced grief and then delight and finally fright. Her life as she briefly lived it without him was over while he was alive.

I enjoyed this story and the unforeseen ending. It captures a bit of feminism and irony.