In "The Story of an Hour" written by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard's husband was killed in a horrific railroad accident. The setting foreshadows Mrs. Mallard's feeling towards her husband's death as she walks into her room and looks out the window.
She does not find herself in a tragic state of mind over her husband's death. Instead she finds the things around her make her come to the realization of her happiness towards the loss of her husband. Mrs. Mallard first caught sight of a "comfortable, roomy armchair" as she walks into her room. The armchair does not make her feel solitary or lonely. It makes her feel comfortable and at ease that her husband is dead. The comfort that the armchair gave her eased the "physical exhaustion that haunted her body." She did not feel pain after losing a spouse, but relaxed and calm about the situation.
Kate Chopin in 1894
English: Female Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) with ...
Birds are the most successful group of flying vert...She doesn't have that pressure of her husband being there and having to be tied down. "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself." All the years she has being a faithful wife to her husband. Now she can take care of herself and have no one to worry about except for her needs and wants. She finds herself happy not sad or miserable that her husband has passed, but happy and joyful of what to come.
After feeling relieved and relaxed she thinks about a new beginning, a new life. When Mrs. Mallard looks out the window, she could see the treetops that "aquiver with new spring life." This represents what may be a new life of her own, a new beginning for her. Everything has now changed in her life. Mrs. Mallard witnessed no signs of cloudiness or...