''Story Of An Hour'' Questions

      1.What is the nature of Mrs. Mallard's "heart trouble," and why would the author mention it in the first paragraph? Is there any way in which this might be considered symbolic or ironic?  

The author mention Mrs. Mallard's because it was a foreshadowing.  Yes, there is a way for the heart troubling can be symbolic or ironic because in the book it said that in her married she was sometimes in love which is the symbolic. The ironic is that she die of a heart attack. 

       2. The setting of the story is very limited; it is confined largely to a room, a staircase, and a front door. How does this limitation help to express the themes of the story? The setting is inside  Mrs. Mallard's house. The limitation help express the theme of the story by telling us that Mrs. Mallard doesn't have freedom. 

         3. In what ways is this passage significant? "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all quiver with the new spring life. 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 some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves." What kinds of sensory images does this passage contain, and what senses does it address? What does the vision through the open window mean to her? Where else does she taste, smell, or touch something intangible in the story?

The passage is significant in some ways because the death of her husband took her to sadness and then happiness at the same day of the death. She sees new things that she haven't noticed before. Like a new life was to come to her. 

          4. What kind of relationships do the Mallards have? Is Brently Mallard unkind to Louise Mallard, or is there some other reason for her saying "free, free, free!" when she hears of his death? How does she feel about him? 

Mallards relationship wasn't a good one according to Mrs. Mallard' reaction when she got the news of her husband's death.  She was pushed down by her husband. 
         5. Mrs. Mallard closes the door to her room so that her sister Josephine cannot get in, yet she leaves the window open. Why does Chopin make a point of telling the reader this? How might this relate to the idea of being "free" and to the implicit idea that she is somehow imprisoned? Do other words in the story relate to this idea?
It shows that Mrs. Mallard want time to take in the news and think about so many things. 
     6. What does Josephine represent in the story? What does Richards represent?  Josephine is the sister of Mrs.Mallard and Richards is her husband. 
     7. Mrs. Mallard is described as descending the stairs "like a goddess of Victory." In what ways does she feel herself victorious?  She feels victorious because she will  be free from her husband's treatment. She will be able to do things she was able to do. 
    8. The last line of the story is this: "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills." In what ways is this an ironic statement? What is gained by having the doctors make such a statement rather than putting it in the mouths of Josephine or Richards? 

It is ironic because she has a heart disease. 

    9. What view of marriage does the story present? The story was published in 1894; does it only represent attitudes toward marriage in the nineteenth century, or could it equally apply to attitudes about marriage today?   The marriage wasn't a good relationship between Mrs. Mallard and her husband. The marriage can be equally to marriages in to days. 

   10. If this is, in some sense, a story about a symbolic journey, where does Mrs. Mallard "travel"?   Her mood was changing each time.