"Story of an Hour"

Lucille Mallard had a troubled life and marriage, which ultimately led to her death. The author Kate Chopin, gives very little detail to the families every day life, and what the exact problems were in the marriage. Chopin uses phrases like "And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not." This led me to believe there were differences between the the couple, which made Lucille very unhappy.
During the time period of the late 1800's to the early 1900's, women were often stereo-typed and were thought to always act a certain way. I would say, it is safe to assume that given the society she lived in where most women were housewives and divorces rarely happened, Lucille felt like she had no other way out. She could go to her family, she might have been frightened to go to anyone outside the public for of fear she may cause and ultimately she felt trapped. Chopin elaborates on this when she states, "Free! Body and soul free! I also questioned the idea of who actually was Lucille Mallard. It is terrible to think a person could feel so trapped that they think death is escaping. Maybe Ms. Mallard was not a typical strong minded person. Maybe she lacked the will to try and fight all the despair that was going on in her life. Maybe she was tired. Chopin states, "There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. Lucille was waiting for her misery to end. Is is then fair to assume, she was predicting her own death? Or did she know that death was this powerful thing? Whatever is was, she was ready to embrace it and be free, as Chopin notes, "And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. "
This entire text, leads the audience to believe there was something Lucille Mallard felt, that was holding her from life and from being happy. Before she died she could only whisper that she now knew she would be free from all things.