I felt sympathy for Mrs. Mallard throughout this entire story. Chopin’s depiction of Mrs. Mallard’s character affords sympathy right from the start. The opening sentence and paragraph are clearly intended to induce a feeling of sympathy by telling of Mrs. Mallard being “afflicted with a heart trouble” and quickly revealing that she has to deal with the death of her husband.
However, as the story progresses another side of Mrs. Mallard is revealed. We find that she is a woman who has felt suppressed by her husband for many years. We also find that Mrs. Mallard is experiencing feelings of relief and joy that she is finally free from her husband’s suppression. I believe that Chopin’s intent for adding this twist to the story was to add the element of surprise and to invoke some feeling other than sympathy for Mrs. Mallard. Many people might feel negatively towards Mrs. Mallard for being happy that she is free from her husband. I, however, continued to feel sympathetic to Mrs. Mallard. I felt sorry for her inability to find happiness. I felt sorry for her inability to stand up to her husband and confront the problems in their marriage. It makes me question her husband’s true personality. I also wonder what other dynamics were in existence at that time to cause Mrs. Mallard to remain married to a man that she truly wanted to be away from. I am reminded of all the stories of physical abuse that I’ve seen on television. I’ve heard many stories of women who stay in abusive relationships for reasons that most of us cannot understand. I wonder if Mrs. Mallard was on the receiving end of some form of abuse, physical, verbal, or emotional.
I also thought that Mrs. Mallard may have been in some form of an abusive relationship. But I also feel that the author does not give us much detail into her relationship with her husband. We also get virtually no detail about the husband whatsoever. We are never told what his personality is like or even what he does for a living, though we have to assume it has to do with trains. I think it might be a bit of a stretch to assume that their relationship was abusive given the detail we are provided, but it is not improbable.
ReplyDeleteI think it is noble of you to feel compassion for Mrs. Mallard, for not being able to feel happiness in her life, one way or another. This was a different perspective, however similar to how I felt when I read about Mrs. Mallard. Some would read the story and have a negative opinion of Mrs. Mallard, I think having some pity for her is much more appropriate.
ReplyDeleteI at first had sympathy for Mrs. Mallard. It was hard to understand the true depths of their marriage. I agree their marriage could have been abusive or also a forced marriage. That seemed to be popular back in those days. But, it could have been bad enough to where she probably rather be dead then to live with him.
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