"The Story of an Hour": Reflective Post

     “The Story of an Hour” showed that in life we can either living for ourselves or we live for others, but there is a balance. It began by showing a wife losing her husband and the amount of grieving that she went through. This showed that even though we see death far off in our future that it starts to become unexpected and even more painful when it comes in the blink of an eye. The way Mrs. Mallard viewed her husband’s death was that she no longer had to be someone else’s liability. She could finally live for herself and came to the conclusion that she was in her own mind “free”. In class, our stories all surrounded a theme of women, not so much being bound under men, but being bound to life and all its responsibilities.

     I think this personally relates to me because it shows that if and when I do get married  or any other relationship I may have in my future, I don’t want someone to have to be bound to me. I want them, along with myself, to live life freely and however I please, so long as it doesn’t disrupt or cause trouble in another’s life. Culturally, everyone wants to feel accepted by someone else and have something to live for, yet not be so attached that the person becomes a “poison” in the relationship which goes for both persons in the relationship. It’s a shame that the world has come to the point where there is less long-term relationships forming and even worse that people begin to care for themselves to much in which trust is lost. It comes down to creating a balance between what you do for yourself and the things you do for others. 

     “Free, free, free.” Mrs. Mallard silently repeats this word over and over, but when are we truly free?When death strikes? When in life are we never in a relationship that causes us to care for another? The answer would most likely be no. From a Christian perspective, we are only truly free when Jesus comes for us again and that will be the greatest freedom of all.