Powerful expression of the mixed emotions marriage can bring. I am not loving the ending but I can appreciate the irony. I would have loved to hear the husband's own thoughts at the end.
Erin Gaulrapp replied on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 09:27am
This is a breathtaking story of "dreamed-of freedom" being snatched away so mercilessly. A rare look at the thoughts of women enduring a marriage with one sided love. Clearly she was loved but her freedom was more precious than the idea of letting sorrow spoil her new selfish joy.
Larry O'Sullivan replied on Wed, 10/08/2008 - 09:46am
Call me crazy but is Mrs. Mallard given no first name? Her sister is Josephine and there's Richard, her husband's friend but Mrs. Mallard is only referred to once by name and only as the wife of someone she'd rather not be with. The rest of the time, while she is exploding with her new found freedom, she is merely a pronoun. Poor woman, not only stuck in a loveless marriage but without her own identity!
How senior were these ladies? I was born in 1948 and I got it the first time--I think even some of my mother's generation would have got it (maybe even especially them!). I'd have expected younger women to be baffled, having no idea of how oppressive marriage was set up to be in decades past. Then again, maybe it's just as bad now but in a different way (the double work day, for instance)?
I will love this story until I myself am dead.
Powerful expression of the mixed emotions marriage can bring. I am not loving the ending but I can appreciate the irony. I would have loved to hear the husband's own thoughts at the end.
This is a breathtaking story of "dreamed-of freedom" being snatched away so mercilessly. A rare look at the thoughts of women enduring a marriage with one sided love. Clearly she was loved but her freedom was more precious than the idea of letting sorrow spoil her new selfish joy.
Call me crazy but is Mrs. Mallard given no first name? Her sister is Josephine and there's Richard, her husband's friend but Mrs. Mallard is only referred to once by name and only as the wife of someone she'd rather not be with. The rest of the time, while she is exploding with her new found freedom, she is merely a pronoun. Poor woman, not only stuck in a loveless marriage but without her own identity!
How senior were these ladies? I was born in 1948 and I got it the first time--I think even some of my mother's generation would have got it (maybe even especially them!). I'd have expected younger women to be baffled, having no idea of how oppressive marriage was set up to be in decades past. Then again, maybe it's just as bad now but in a different way (the double work day, for instance)?