The Story of An Hour. January 18, 2012
Vocab.:
Afflicted- suffering from
Hastened- moved fast
Forestall- inform
Aquiver-Blooming
Tumultuously- hard
Yonder- to be dazed, stare at something
Difficult sentences:
He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram and had hastened to forestall any less carefeul, led tender friend in bearing the sad message.
(He heard two reports of Brently’s death, and he ran quickly to inform Mrs. Mallard.)
But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches.
(She is so confused that she is dazed and looking at the patches of grass)
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her.
(She was so excited, with the thought of having her life back)
Characters:
Mrs. Mallard- Main Character, wife possibly tired of being married to Brently
Joeshine- Mrs. Mallards sister
Richard- Husbands Friend
Brently Mallard- husband, believed to be dead
Summary:
Mrs. Mallard hears news from her husbands friend Richard that her husband Brently Mallard, died while at work. Mrs. Mallard begins to cry and locks herself in her room. Only she isn’t crying because of his death, she is crying because of happiness that for once she will live for herself. It states “and yet she had loved him, sometimes, often she had not”. In other words, it wasn’t that she was unhappy or didn’t love him, due to the era in which they lived, she wasn’t free to do what she pleased and always had to answer to him, so she was probably tired of living her life this way. As happy as Mrs. Mallard was becoming, her happiness was soon short lived when Brently walked in the house confused at why she was crying. In that instant, Mrs. Mallard has a heart attack and dies “of the joy that kills.”