“The Story of an Hour” – Reading Guide Questions
1. Describe Mrs. Mallard’s first response to the news of her husband’s death, and explain why she reacts this way.
2. Why is the following line included in the text after she learns of her husband’s death? What does the “spring” symbolize? “She could see in the open square before the house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (762).
3. The day before, Mrs. Mallard “had a thought with a shudder that life might be long” (763). Why had the thought of a long life made her shudder?
4. When Mrs. Mallard leaves her bedroom, she has a look of triumph in her eyes. Why? What simile is used to describe her appearance?
5. How do the doctors explain Mrs. Mallard’s death? What was really the cause?
6. What does this story tell us about the attitudes of some women in the early 1900s?
“The Story of an Hour” – Reading Guide Questions
1. Describe Mrs. Mallard’s first response to the news of her husband’s death, and explain why she reacts this way.
2. Why is the following line included in the text after she learns of her husband’s death? What does the “spring” symbolize? “She could see in the open square before the house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (762).
3. The day before, Mrs. Mallard “had a thought with a shudder that life might be long” (763). Why had the thought of a long life made her shudder?
4. When Mrs. Mallard leaves her bedroom, she has a look of triumph in her eyes. Why? What simile is used to describe her appearance?
5. How do the doctors explain Mrs. Mallard’s death? What was really the cause?
6. What does this story tell us about the attitudes of some women in the early 1900s?
“The Story of an Hour” – Reading Guide Questions
1. Describe Mrs. Mallard’s first response to the news of her husband’s death, and explain why she reacts this way.
2. Why is the following line included in the text after she learns of her husband’s death? What does the “spring” symbolize? “She could see in the open square before the house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (762).
3. The day before, Mrs. Mallard “had a thought with a shudder that life might be long” (763). Why had the thought of a long life made her shudder?
4. When Mrs. Mallard leaves her bedroom, she has a look of triumph in her eyes. Why? What simile is used to describe her appearance?
5. How do the doctors explain Mrs. Mallard’s death? What was really the cause?
6. What does this story tell us about the attitudes of some women in the early 1900s?