Student: Nguyễn Thị Kỳ Diệu Student’s ID: 2014710018

Question 1. What is the significance of Mrs. Mallard’s “heart trouble”?

- “Heart trouble” refers to heart disease, it appears in both opening and closing text.
The heart condition makes Louise delicate, and later it causes her death upon
Brently’s safe return.
- Louise's sick heart has symbolic importance in this situation since it implies to readers
that she has been grieved throughout her life. However, when she believes she’s
finally found freedom, her heart almost sparks back to life. “Now her bosom rose and
fell tumultuously...she was striving to beat it back...Her pulses beat fast, and the
coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.”, Chopin writes. These
phrases imply that her heart disease symptoms have subsided as a result of her
newfound independence. Louise's damaged heart is said to be the result of her being
suppressed, and optimism gives her heart back to life.

Question 2: What is the significance of freedom in the story? How does the author
portray his idea?
- The significance of freedom in the story is related to the limitations of a married
woman. After hearing about her husband’s death, she showed her grief and
overreaction toward the news. But when she was alone with her own thoughts in her
own room, she thought of her new independence, her new freedom to spend the
remainder of her days exactly as she pleased
- The author portrays his idea through 2 aspects. The first one is through the
protagonist’s situation. The author described her problem as “heart trouble” not “heart
disease”. Her heart trouble comes from not only physical but also emotional pain. The
second aspect is through her husband's death. The death of her husband has led the
main character to realize the independence or freedom she has always desired but has
been taken. It is no coincidence that Louise’s sense of the possibility of freedom only
comes to her when she is locked, entirely alone, within her room. As her own
thoughts about how men and women take each other’s freedom suggests, any social
interaction or connection impinges upon freedom.

Question 3. Describe Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to the death of her husband. Why do you
think she feels this way?
- When Mrs. Mallard first hears the news of her husband's fatal accident, she weeps
with "sudden, wild abandonment" into her sister's arms. Louise experiences a "storm
of grief" and cannot compose herself after she discovers the tragic news. Although her
reaction is perhaps more violent than other women’s, it is an appropriate one.
→ “Right” reaction and behavior of a women
→ Her violent reaction shows that she is a demonstrative, emotional woman
→ She knows that she should grieve for Brently and fear for her future
- Being alone, Louise begins to realize that she is now an independent woman, which
excites her a lot. However, she first tries to squelch that joy, “beat it back with her
will”. When she recognizes the joy, she actually feels her life kind of brightening.
→ Louise is not cruel
Student: Nguyễn Thị Kỳ Diệu Student’s ID: 2014710018

Question 4: What does Richards represent in the story?

Although Richards is just a supporting character in this story, he plays a crucial role in
kicking off the story’s plot. He is aware of Louise’s heart condition, which shows that he
knows her well enough to know of her health and how she is likely to bear grief. Also, he
tries to screen Brently from his wife ‘s view to prevent her heart from reacting badly, which
demonstrates a high level of friendship, consideration, and care for Louise. In addition, he is
a thoughtful person in his own right. When he knows that Brently is dead, he depends on
Josephine’s help to break the news to Louise and tries to get to Louise before a less careful,
less tender friend can break the sad news to her.

Question 5: What does Josephine represent in the story?

Josephine is a representation of a society that exists around Mrs Mallard and its
traditional mindset. She is the person that is there to help Mrs Mallard bear the shock of her
husband's death. The presence of this character in the story makes the intentional pun sharper.
Josephine is an ironic character who is trying to console her sister. She believes Mrs Mallard
is deeply shocked and tries to console and support her. However, she appears to be a woman
who blindly follows social customs and therefore does everything in a customary manner.
Mrs Mallard shuts her out for she is annoyed at the way her sister is trying to support her.
Josephine's appearance in the story is comical. On the one hand, her sister is rejoicing at her
new found freedom, on the other she is comically trying to console her as if Mrs Mallard will
die of sorrow. She is doing it all because it is customary for the kin of a widow to support her
at her husband's death. Josephine is following the customs of her society. Josephine doesn’t
understand Mrs Mallard or her state of mind. So, she acts like cartoons to add to the poor
creature's sorrow which kills her.

Question 6: What view of marriage is portrayed in the story? Can this view still apply
today?
- The view of marriage portrayed in the story:
For Mallard, the view of marriage is based on freedom and mutual respect. This means that
she can do anything she likes, and she expects to receive sympathy from her husband. In the
former times, she may have lived tolerantly, but she is a powder-puff sport, and she thus can't
antagonize. When receiving the information about the death of her husband, she is a bit
broken- heart because they lived together for years and she still loves him, but she finds the
freedom more that is a life that she can decide herself, and these are things she never thought
of before. She is liberated after strings of suffering days with the presence of Brently. During
the forthcoming days, she doesn't resign herself to the binding marriage anymore. She will
live her own life with no concern or control from her husband's will. And at the end of the
story, she dies because the joy about liberation from a marriage that only occurred for a while
is lost as soon as Brently appears.

- This view still exists in modern society these days

People in this society often get married because of their sincere love and mutual respect, so
that they can be free to do anything, especially the women. The women can work or have the
same status as the man or even more. They can decide their own life without the binding from
their marriage. They have women's rights that are protected by law. However, there are some
Student: Nguyễn Thị Kỳ Diệu Student’s ID: 2014710018

cases where the women in their marriage are overshadowed. They are tolerant in marriage
and don't have the courage to stand up to gain their benefits.

Question 7: Describe Mrs Mallard’s journey in the story

Mrs Mallard was a married woman who had heart trouble. After hearing about the
death of her husband, Mrs Mallard showed her grief by crying dramatically as she knew the
other women would do that. When the moment of grief was over, she went back to her room
and stayed all alone. Being alone in her room and out of other’s sight, Louise thought about
her newfound independence and felt excited for it. Louise was not a soulless and rude woman
and she knew that she would cry for her husband’s death when she saw him. But at that
moment, all she was thinking was her independence, her freedom she always longed for.
“Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body”.
She spread her arms open, symbolically welcoming her new life. “Body and soul free!”, she
repeated to herself, a statement that showed how she enjoyed her new independence. Only
when Mrs Mallard saw her husband still alive did her heart trouble appear and kill her.
Unlike the doctor who said that Mrs Mallard died because of joy, she actually died of the loss
of joy. Mr Brently’s death had opened a new chapter in Mrs Mallard’s life but when she
found that new life couldn’t be true anymore, her shock and disappointment killed her.