Orientation

"The Story of an Hour" is a psychological study of a woman, Louise Mallard, who has just been told that her husband has died in a train wreck. At first, she is swept over by a "storm of grief." But as the hour the story dramatizes continues, she slowly begins to realize that she is, in fact, releaved that her husband is dead. Without a husband, she will be free to live for herself, without the restrictions common in 19th-century marriage. It should be noted that her husband was not cruel or especially harsh; but the customs and traditions of the day demanded that he play a dominant role in his wife's life. Free from this burden, Louise looks forward to years of independence. But when her husband unexpectedly returns, having been nowhere near the scene of the crash she dies suddenly--"of joy that kills."