The Mallard’s house is the area where the entire action of Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” takes place and it is extremely significant in the changing reactions of the main character, Mrs. Mallard. The house has two floors, which are significantly different, both in the reactions and in the emotions brought out in each one. Mrs. Mallard’s emotions and reactions to her husband’s death change dramatically, in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour;” downstairs she is overcome by grief and ultimately dies from her husband’s shocking return, while upstairs she is overjoyed by her new found freedom.
Initially, the story starts downstairs, where Mrs. Mallard first hears of her husband’s death and is grief struck by the shocking news. Downstairs Mrs. Mallard is the respectable wife grieving the loss of her husband. At first Mrs. Mallard is shocked by the news of her husband’s death. She appears to be grieving the loss of her husband, but the news of his death did not sit with her as it should have, which is shown in her reaction, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with paralyzed inability to accept its significance” (1). She knows the death of her husband is critical, but reacts seemingly different than others would as she starts to think of her life without him in a more positive light. She seems confounded over her own feelings, she has felt repressed by her marriage, but perhaps has not recognized it until now.
After she learns of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard goes upstairs, to her bedroom where she begins to feel enlightened and then becomes overjoyed by her new found freedom. Upstairs she receives enlightenment and understanding. She knows something is going to be different, something about this was going to change her. She realizes that these thoughts are the thoughts that will take her out of her passive attitude and into a sense of