blog#7

Christopher Laberdee
English 102
Section:
Professor: Dr. Luke Vasileiou
Date: 5/4/10
Sporadic Ms. Millard
Ms. Millard is the main character in the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. Ms. Millard is an older woman who suffers from heart trouble. The day her husband died in the railroad disaster, her sister came into her room to break the news cautiously to her as she gazed out the window. It’s not often for women to hear the same message as Ms. Millard did about her husband’s death in the railroad disaster. At once she became sporadic to her sister as well as her family. When Millard abandons her sisters company she isolates herself to weep. As Millard weeps she slowly stops facing the window she witnesses the beauty of life, she feels a spirit lift off of her as if it weighed her down. She becomes distrust from the news to being all happy. Ms. Millard shows her character transformation, on what causes it and how we see it.
In the text I took two paragraphs that show Millard's transformation, one describing her in a deep sadness and the other her repeating she’s free. Taken from Kate Chopin “She did not hear the same 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 sisters arms. When the storm of grief had spent its self she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.”(pg.316) This shows Millard handling her husband’s death on her own, she has no one follow her so she can be alone and let out all her emotions, maybe some quiet alone time to reflect on how good of a man he was. This is a typical behavior for a human to engage in after losing a loved one or hearing disturbing news. The other paragraph shows the complete opposite of Ms. Millard's attitude from the first paragraph. Also taken from Kate Chopin “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!”(p.317) Now this shows Millard’s transformation in character, as to her first response was expected to any normal behavior compared to moments later her whispering she’s free repeatedly. This change in character makes the reader think to their selves and ask questions like was her husband nice to her, was he always there, was she his slave as to being the woman of the house and performing her duties as a woman should. Women didn’t have rights in the early 1900’s; the men would work and would expect to come home to a quiet place to rest his head and a warm meal to fill his tummy.
“Knowing that Ms. Millard 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 Millard’s name leading the list of killed.”(p.g316) The news being broken to Ms. Millard by her sister Josephine is what causes her emotional breakdown. She realizes her husband is dead, but then realizes she’s free of his command and authority. The sister Josephine was careful telling Millard due to her heart condition for if she wasn’t maybe Ms. Millard would be another dead one.
Another paragraph that shows the transformation of Ms. Millard’s character is “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 should free!”(pg.317) she kept whispering” Millard wasn’t really in love with her husband, as it said it was just sometimes. She was woman of the house that had to do her chores and whatever her husband Brently Millard asks her to do. She was ecstatic when after she realized she was free of his authority. She is now one being of her own to control and so as she pleases.
In the short story “The Story of an Hour” by author Kate Chopin. Ms. Millard is sporadic as soon as she heard the heart breaking news of Brently Millard’s death; she dismissed herself from her family’s support. She weeps but not for long as she soon realizes that she is by herself now. She is free; she is what she was missing the whole time, herself. Kate Chopin did an excellent job creating the irony of Ms. Millard’s character, as well as the dramatic twist at the end with Millard dying.