Mining For Meaning

Prose Exercise 5

1) The setting of this scene is gloomy and solemn, to complement the inner feelings of Mrs Mallard as she received the news of her husband's death, her husband who she had lived with and gone through so much with for years. The writer describes the chair that Mrs Mallard saw as roomy, which probably meant that Mrs Mallard felt empty, as though something or someone is missing from her life after receiving the news. The writer also describes the weather, a delicious new breath of rain was in the air, which also shows the gloominess in what Mrs Mallard is feeling. A little freedom as now she was living for herself instead of her husband and yet sadness as she lost someone she had loved.

2) She probably had not much freedom in her marriage, as evidence in the passage shown : "she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely." It shows the suppression of impulses or emotions that Mrs Mallard is feeling. My impressions of Mrs Mallard is that she is a very loving and faithful woman. She loves her husband dearly, which can be seen how she had cried for her husband : "wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms". My feelings for Mrs Mallard at the end of the text is that I am happy for her as she left in peace and joy after all these years that she was in pain because of her heart trouble, believing in the news that her husband has passed on thus her time is already up.

3) The conclusion of this story is ironic because Mrs Mallard husband is alive in the end, and Mrs Mallard was the one who had passed away after she wept for her so called husband's death she had believed in. The writer develops the story towards its ironic conclusion by saying Mrs Mallard died of heart disease, of joy that kills. Dying of heart disease isn't a great thing, so the writer probably meant that Mrs Mallard died of joy.