Rarely does it happen that someone's death would bring joy and happiness to another. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" Mrs. Mallard's husband was presumed dead, this presumption had caused Mrs. Mallard to go through some intense and mixed reactions. As soon as she heard the news, she was saddened, but the sad news never did hit her as it would to other women, she was never in disbelief and in great confusion. After a few minutes her emotions had changed, suddenly the presumed death of her husband had given her newfound joy and freedom she had never experienced before. Though Mrs. Mallard's reaction may seem very insensitive and callous, I feel her reaction to the situation was completely justified, considering what she and other women during her time and age were going through. The notion that she would finally be free was really satisfying for her , "there would be no one to live for her during those coming years: she would live for herself."(8) Women at that time were not living for themselves but for others, so even if Mrs. Mallard's reaction seemed or was selfish it was completely excusable. "The wife was bound to live with her husband"(118), She was free from being tied and under her husband the same way a slave would have been freed from his master. Even if she wanted to leave her husband society wouldn't allow it, she really had no way of escaping the hands of her husband. She couldn't divorce him because of the strict catholic rules in Louisiana. The only way she could feel her freedom was if Mr. Mallard was gone. It really is sad that the only way she could get her freedom and happiness was if her husband was gone but that was how it was for her.
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