My health wasn’t in a perfect condition. I had heart trouble, perhaps caused by living in a male dominated society that offered women limited access to the outside world. However, my husband and I had a happy marriage.
My life was dramatically changed when my sister Josephine and my husband’s friend Richards gave me the lowdown in broken phrases about my husband’s death. They were breaking the news in a gentle, calm manner because of my heart condition. I couldn’t stop crying. I isolated myself in my private room and gave myself a space to consider the damage of losing a husband in a train accident.
I went through a sequence of emotional changes, and I felt empty. I couldn’t imagine the rest of my life without my husband Brently. I was sitting alone in my comfortable chair in my room for a long period facing the window. I gazed outside dreaming of how my life would fall apart and thinking of what would follow the disaster of Brently’s death. The internal struggle gradually intensified inside me and became unbearable- it couldn’t be supported in any capacity by any human being, especially one with heart trouble.
I was looking through my open window to see high trees, blue sky and birds flying and singing freely. I could feel the freshness of spring and smell the fresh dirt after rain falls over it. The view out of my window resuscitated me and I knew I had accept the facts and persevere. I said “life must go on”.
A weird feeling reached out to me while I was in my room. It wasn’t a grieving feeling, it was fearful and falling out of the sky. While trying to adapt to this environment whispered words have flew over and over my slightly parted lips in a quiet voice “free, free, free!”. I started to feel a sudden change. The grief and the internal struggle transformed into joy and happiness. I could see the freedom. I can be in control over my own life and live the upcoming years for myself instead of living them for Brently. Brently tried to be a good, caring husband but he imposes his will upon me and now! There will be no power will upon me. I have freedom and I don’t have to be obeisant to anyone. I enjoyed this new life and I kept whispering “free, body and soul, free!”
My sister Josephine reached out to me and knocked on the closed door saying “Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door–you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door”. I wasn’t ill but I was healing from the illness and the suffering I was experiencing in my married life. It was a relief to know that I can be myself and follow my guts to make personal decisions freely without being told what to do. ” Go away. I am not making myself ill.” I said.
Eventually, I opened the door to my sister and hugged her with wide open arms. I felt the joy of freedom. Josephine could see the happiness of victory and tears of joy flowing over the edge of my eyes. I took the stairs down to where Richards was waiting. We heard the sound of keys in the door lock and realized that someone was trying to open the main door of the house. That was surprising because no one had the house keys except me and my husband. Behind the door Brently Mallard was standing in a perfect shape. Brently was away from the accident and had not even been aware of the train accident.
All the joy and happiness have been taken away from me, and I felt trapped again in a prison that I had struggled to escape from for such a long time. I passed out and they thought that was the joy that makes people unconscious.
Hi Amine,
I noticed that you changed “The Story of an Hour,” from third person limited to first-person narration. With this change Mrs. Mallard became the narrator. She was already the point of view character in the original story but now that she is the narrator the reader has access to more of her thoughts, feeling and setting of the story.
The changes in the story gives the reader more insight about the emotions of Mrs. Mallard.
At first the reader got the impression that Mrs. Mallard was in a happy marriage, but later in the story she admitted she was unhappy with her life and her marriage. This is somewhat contradictory. However, it is possible that because Mrs. Mallard was stuck in her marriage even though she was unhappy she started telling herself she was happy in order to make the best of her situation. Now that she received the news of her husbands death she realized she did not have to pretend anymore. After composing herself she decided to embrace her freedom.
Good Afternoon Amine,
After reading your story, I enjoyed how you changed the narration from third person narration to first person narration. It really gave us insight into the emotion and thoughts of the main character Loiuse. Your writing was well constructed. However, there was one thing that caught my attention and found a little confusing. In paragraph six you stated, ” I wasn’t ill but I was healing from the illness and the suffering I was experiencing in my married life”. I think you should clarify what you mean in this sentence because it sound slightly contradicting. You said that you she is not ill but is recovering from an illness. Otherwise, I believe that your retelling of there story was well written.