Chopin's The Story of an Hour

In this short story, a woman with heart disease ends up dying of shock not because her husband died, but from realizing that he was alive. This, although a seemingly interesting response to the death of a loved one, was probably quite appropriate for the time period in which this was written (late 1800's). Ms. Mallard felt trapped in her marriage by her husband and finally felt free when he was supposedly killed. Living in the 21st century, however, I find this reaction startling and unsettling. Marriages should be joyful and filled with love, and this relationship encapsulates neither of those aspects.

-s.sacks