"A Joy That Kills"

Essay by KRSORS15College, UndergraduateB+, October 2014

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Kelli Smith

Professor Brian Rockett

English 101­6:30

Essay 1

22 Septmeber 2014

"The Joy That Kills"

The final line in this short story, authored by Kate Chopin in the year of eighteen

ninety four, is a statement that was made by the doctors who arrived at the home of

Brently and Louise Mallard after she had apparently died of a heart attack. It is interesting to

note that this particular story was written in what is called the Gilded Age when the perceptions

of women were vastly different from what they are today. Women were seen as the weaker

vessel, and were to be shielded from certain situations that could possibly be harmful to them.

The news that her husband Brently had been killed in a railroad accident was something from

which Louise Mallard's sister, Josephine, and her husband's friend, Richards, attempted to

shield Louise. They knew that she had a weak heart and they were afraid being told the news of

her husband's death would be so shocking that Louise would become dangerously ill after

hearing it. It is ironic that the doctors would determine that she died from the shock and joy of

seeing that he was actually alive. The thoughts that Louise Mallard was having after hearing the

news of her husbands death brings into question if that is in fact what killed Louise Mallard.

When Louise was eventually told about the accident, "great care was taken to break to

her as gently as possible the news of her husbands death" (Chopin 15). It was done with "veiled

hints that revealed in half concealing" (15). Louise's initial reaction was one of shock and

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sadness, a reaction that was to be expected. Louise locked herself in her bedroom to be alone

and contemplate the...