Mid-term Writing Test

Part A. Short-answer questions

1-What is Louis Mallard’s opinion of marriage?

Her view on marriage doesn't seems very good. She looks at marriage like a real burden. "There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature."

2-How does she feel about her future as a widow?

For Louise Mallard, being a widow means freedom. She doesn't really know why...but she somehow feels good about her situation. ''There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.''

3-Why is there so much description of what is outside the window when Louise is alone in her room?

It seems to me that the long portrayal of what is outside the window symbolizes Louise's new life: a free and peaceful one. Like I explained in the previous answer, Louise now feels liberated and her life suddenly changes to a ''slower'' pace. She will have all the time she wants to contemplate and do what she wants in life.

4-Explain how Louise can feel joy and sadness at the same time?

Louise's emotions are confused, bewildered because she is not really sure if she was in love with her husband M. Mallard. ''And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not.'' Her sadness is easily comprehensible (we imagine she has been with him for a long time) but so is her joy, a true sensation of freedom!

Part B. Development question

Since the beginning of time, an attraction has always existed between the two sexes. That desirability led some of us to marriage! But sometimes, love is like dust, it fades away with times. In the short story “The Story of An Hour” from Kate Chopin, the author brings a subjective viewpoint of what marriage means. She does it in a very ironic way. In the story, we can clearly see the negative sides of marriage. It goes under the skin of a married wife and her perception of marriage. After the wedding, life might not be the same. There is a lost of freedom because, in one way or another, you have to accept the other person’s opinion, his judgment, his values and his needs. You are confined to live with someone and to compromise on a lot of things.

In the story, when Louise Mallard learns the "heartbreaking" news, her attitude changes entirely; she can now smell the refreshing air of liberty. “Free! Body and soul free!” We can imagine that the story takes place in the 20th century or so, because the way Louise seems delivered from her marriage’s chains, after her husband’s death, truly reflects the domination of the male gender over the female gender. So marriage might just be an illusion of happiness! It is certainly a cheerless morale that Chopin expresses throughout his short story.

The murky appearance of what marriage represents in Louise’s life is also shown when we learn that she perceives marriage as a crime. The death of her husband gives her back the missed life she has once lost. She is delighted about her new independence: “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” So we understand that marriage is not the key to happiness, is not an inevitable source of joy but is more like a lost of freedom and perpetual obligations towards the other.

In conclusion, before getting married, think twice about what you truly wish in life. What do you want to do? Do you really want to be with this person? What does marriage means to you? Do you need to be married in order to be a happy individual? All of these important questions linger in our mind after reading the “The Story of An Hour”.

402 words.