Kate Chopin's "Story of the Hour"
            
            
            
             In the first sentence you Kate Chopin throws you right into the story with "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death." This is one of the best opening sentences I have ever read. Not only does it grab your attention but it foreshadows the ironic ending and immediately presents the conflict. She doesn't waste the readers time with an introduction or heavy descriptions of characters. This is a perfect style for a short story since her message is clear without the need for character development.
             This story presents a very interesting morale dilemma. Considering the time period one would assume that when a woman's husband is killed she would be overwhelmed with sorrow but this is only her immediate reaction. In just a few short moments of self-introspection Mrs. Mallard realizes how excited she is now that she has been released from the bounds of her debatably meaningless relationship. This clearly screams of the female human spirit for freedom and equality and is an unmistakable message for the time. The overwhelming sense of rejuvenation ends up killing Mrs. Mallard via heart attack, which brings to light another important message in this story. How quickly things can change, from ones perspective to ones physical condition. Each moment could just be your last. In Mrs. Mallard's case her life changing epiphany triggered by her husbands death ultimately came to late or even more ironic, killing her.
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