In the short story “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin introduces the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman, stuck in her unhappy marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of her husband's presumed death brings her great relief, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a life free from the repressed relationship with her husband. But the relief is short-lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death takes on an opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she did not have the courage to stand up for herself. Mallard's repressed married life is a secret she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care taken by her sister and friend of her husband, Richard, to break the news of her husband's tragic death as gently as possible. They believe that she is so in love with him that hearing the news of his death would worsen her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she didn't love him at all and actually took the news very positively, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she bursts into his room and her focus shifts dramatically from that of her husband's death to nature which symbolizes the new life and possibilities that await her. His senses came alive; they come alive with the beauty of nature. His eyes could reach the immensity of the sky; she could feel the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song in the middle of a paper......her true feelings with her sister, or talking to her husband or reaching out to other sources of help in approaching her married life repressed, she would not have to fear living with her husband. “Only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life could be long” (Chopin 262). The meaning of her life would not necessarily mean the death of her husband. In conclusion, her lack of assertiveness, courage, and strong will to tackle her repressed life made her look at life and death from a different perspective. When in fact there is no need to die to experience liberation when she could have lived a full life to experience it with her husband by her side. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. “The story of an hour.” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson, 2010. 261-263. Print.