THE STORY OF AN HOUR

By Kate Chopin

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken
to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that
revealed in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her.
It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad
disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He
had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had
hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed
inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment,
in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her
room alone. She would have no one follow her.
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy arm-chair. Into this she
sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to
reach into her soul.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all
aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the
street below a pedler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some
one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the
eaves.
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had
met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless,
except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried
itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.
She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a
certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed
away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection,
but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was
it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping
out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled
the air.
Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously.
She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she
was striving to beat it back with her will - as powerless as her two white slender hands
would have been.
When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips.
She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the
look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her
pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.
She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and
exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.
She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in
death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.
But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would
belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.
There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for
herself. 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. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she
looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
And yet she had loved him - sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What
could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion
which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold, imploring
for admission. "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."
"Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life
through that open window.
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer
days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life
might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be
long.
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a
feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of
Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards
stood waiting for them at the bottom.
Someone was opening the front door with a latch key. It was Brently Mallard who
entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had
been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been one. He
stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richard's quick motion to screen him from
the view of his wife.
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease - of joy that kills.

Choose the correct answer:

1. What is the name of the author of this short story?

a) Kate Chopin

b) Katy Choe
c) Kate Porkchops

d) Katherine Anne Porter

2. What is the name of the widow in this story?

a) Mrs. Moi

b) Mrs. Mallard

c) Mrs. McCaffrey

d) Mrs. Malloy

3. What is the name of the sister in this story?

a) Jojo

b) Josephine

c) Alice

d) Alex

4. How does Mrs. Mallard receive word of her husband's death?

a) She read about it in the newspaper

b) Telephone

c) Telegram

d) A very sad postcard

5. Where does Brently Mallard work?

a) In the coal mines

b) For the railroad

c) He was a soldier

d) The post office

6. What is Mrs. Mallard's initial reaction to her husband's death?

a) She wept at once, sobbing uncontrollably

b) She was happy because she was "free, free, free"

c) She collapsed on the ground

d) She felt nothing

7. What season does this story take place in?

a) Fall

b) Summer

c) Spring

d) Winter

8. How does Mrs. Mallard feel about her husband?

a) She wishes that she was married to someone else

b) She loves him- sometimes

c) She is madly in love with him

d) She doesn't like him at all

9. Why does Mrs. Mallard get married in the first place?

a) She didn't have any other choice

b) For love

c) She was bored

d) She isn't actually married

10. What point of view is this story told through?

a) Cheese

b) Third

c) Second

d) First

11. What does the doctor say that Mrs. Mallard dies of?

a) Sudden fright

b) Overwhelming Sadness
c) Heart disease- of joy that kills

d) Melanoma

12. What does Mrs. Mallard actually die of?

a) Overwhelming sadness

b) Underwhelming Stress

c) Shock

d) Joy that her husband is alive

13. At the very end of the story, we learn that ________ is still alive.

a) Benjamin Mallard

b) Brently Mallard

c) Bryan Mallard

d) Bently Mallard

14. Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was
taken to break to her as gently as possible the news...
What is the best definition of the underlined word?

a) joyfully preoccupied

b) moving quickly

c) deeply concerned

d) grievously affected

15. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares.

What are the respective meanings of the two underlined words?

a) a town crier; awareness of something

b) a thief; awareness of something

c) a seller of goods; commodities for sale

d) a young child; commodities for sale

16. He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram,
and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the
sad message.
What is the best definition of the underlined word?

a) tacitly allow to occur

b) prevent through preemptive action

c) move quickly or carelessly

d) instigate callously

17. She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and
even a certain strength.
What is the best definition for the underlined word?

a) the state of adolescent awkwardness

b) the state of being gravely concerned

c) the state of joyful exuberance

d) the state of being subdued through force or pressure

18. It was not a glance of reflection but rather indicated a suspension of

intelligent thought.
What is the best definition for the underlined word?

a) unlikely relationship

b) temporary pause

c) perpetual stare

d) easy moment

19. They stayed keen and bright.

What is the best definition of the underlined word?

a) billowing

b) restless or anxious

c) intense or sharp

d) soft and smooth

20. She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name.
What is the best definition of the underlined word?
a) difficult to grasp or analyze

b) soft spoken

c) done with great effort

d) chaotic

21. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as
trivial.
What is the best definition of the underlined word?

a) of tremendous merit and impact

b) of little substance or significance

c) of excellent comport or behavior

22. What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this
possession of self- assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest
impulse of her being!
What are the respective meanings of the two underlined words?

a) obsession; request or plea

b) affirmation; urge or motive

c) outrage; frivolous desire

23. 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.
What are the respective meanings of the two underlined words?

a) allow to happen

b) accept whole-heartedly

c) force on someone else

24. She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities.
What are the respective meanings of the two underlined words?

a) kind attention

b) gracious opportunity

c) persistent request