Plot and Characters
What is the name of Mrs. Mallard's sister who told her the bad news?
Who is Josephine?
Mrs. Mallard's quiet joy suggests she felt this way about her life when her husband was alive.
This friend tried to quickly step in front of Brently Mallard to block him from his wife's sight.
Who is Richards
What was Mrs. Mallard's known health problem that made everyone try to break the news gently?
What is heart trouble?
The trees and sparrows outside were "aquiver with the new spring life," which hints that Mrs. Mallard felt this was beginning for her.
What is a new beginning?
What the doctors explicitly said was the cause of Mrs. Mallard's death.
What is heart disease of joy that kills?
What type of specific disaster was Brently Mallard listed as a victim of?
What is a railroad disaster?
When Mrs. Mallard thought that both a kind and a cruel intention were the same when someone tries to control another person, it tells us this about her marriage.
What is she felt controlled by her husband?
Brently Mallard was simply carrying his grip-sack and umbrella when he walked in, implying he was coming back from this kind of ordinary trip.
What is a business trip or a normal journey?
Mrs. Mallard sat in an armchair that faced this common fixture, allowing her to see the outside world.
What is an open window?
What Mrs. Mallard was truly mourning when she died, even though the doctors thought it was joy?
What is the loss of her freedom?
Before her husband returned, Mrs. Mallard "breathed a quick prayer" for this.
What is that life might be long?
What two words did Mrs. Mallard whisper over and over once she realized her true feeling?
What is "free, free, free!"
When Mrs. Mallard came downstairs "like a goddess of Victory," it implies that she had conquered what internal struggle?
What is the feeling of being trapped?
Mrs. Mallard died of a broken heart, but the true irony is that her heart broke not from sorrow, but from losing this.
What is the joy of her freedom?