The Story of an Hour and Gail Godwin’s A Sorrowful Woman are both similar
pieces of literary work in that both stories offers a revealing glimpse of
extremely unhappy marriages. Both Mrs. Mallard and the unnamed mistress in A
Sorrowful Woman called (the wife) seem to reveal a problem or possibly a disease
which is plainly inherited through the institution of there marriages. They are
so unhappy with the lives they lead and the person(s) in them they seem to drive
themselves to there own death. The Story of an Hour seems to pick up in the
middle of an on going battle of Mrs. Mallard’s feelings towards that of her
husband Brantly Mallard, (which seems to be a decent guy from this short story
introduction). This is why you really can not come to grasps with her hatred
towards Mr. Mallard and why she feels it. There is little introduction of the
husband Brantly Mallard which leaves any thought or opinions of him completely
to the imagination, while in A Sorrowful Woman the wife seems to be a very
selfish, and self centered person who can care only for herself. Godwin
describes mostly all characteristics about the husband and wife in that the wife
tells her husband that the sight of himself and the child made her so sick she
did not want to see them ever again. The husband being his very understanding
self-comments “he understood such things, and asked what would she like him to
do” (33). In the begging Mrs. Mallard is so overwhelmingly happy (acting very
distraught) to receive the telegram informing her of Mr. Mallard’s death but
she had to conceal her happiness simply because there were loved ones in her
presence including her sister Josephine and Mr. Mallard’s great friend
Richard. It was he (Richard) who had received intelligence of the death as he
was in the newspaper room and heard fist word of the rail road disaster with
Brently Mallard’s name at the top of the death list. Josephine had delivered
this information just before Mrs. Mallard had stormed off to her room for the
concealment and solitude that she had needed (12-13). For the wife in A
Sorrowful Woman loneliness and solitude was all that she had wanted out of her
family member role throughout the story. She was placed to bed the first night
and was given a sleeping draught that was guaranteed to put her to rest swiftly
after informing her husband that she wanted to be away and out of the sight of
him and their little boy. For many days straight the wife remained there alone
and to her self only to appear to wonder throughout the house aimlessly a few
short times when the house was vacant. For Mrs. Mallard remaining in her room
resting in her roomy armchair staring aimlessly out of the open window was to
rejoice and unleash her true feelings of Mr. Mallard’s death after a few short
moments of morning (12). While in A Sorrowful Woman the wife was detained by her
own state of misery and loneliness for she wanted to be away from both her
husband and her child also (the majority of the time) sitting in her big chair
staring out at the snow-ridden branches wearing her slacks and an old sweater
(35). While there is no major role playing by Mr. Mallard in The Story of an
Hour the husband in A Sorrowful Woman tries to be very caring in every way
possible to his wife. The day after everything took place he brought her
breakfast in bed and let her lay to rest until it grew dark again, and after
taking there son for a walk he brought her up a tray of buttered toast, celery
sticks and soup. She says to him “I am the luckiest woman,” (crying) he then
replies “nonsense, you need a rest from us,” referring to there son and
himself (34). He would then continue to take over all of the house hold duties
such as: fixing her meals/sleeping liquids, doing dishes, making dinner for the
himself and there son, taking and picking up there son from school, and holding
down his employment at the office as well. All of these chores were beginning to
become too much for him to handle by himself so with his wife’s permission he
hired in the perfect young girl that was very dynamic. After a short period of
time the wife fired the girl because she had brought the child in to see his
mother and he sat a grasshopper in her hand which made her become very irate.
The husband then apologized to her and said he would take care of it but was
very disappointed that he had to let the girl go. As time went by his wife
became more and more distant moving into a room by her self, limiting the
husband’s ability to see her, as well as her sons. With the women from both
stories still locked away in their rooms the time passes. As Mrs. Mallard is
sitting in her chair whispering over and over “Free body and Sole free” her
sister Josephine comes to the door and urges her to come out, so she finally
does so and “carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (14).
She then clasped to her sister’s waist causing them both to descend down the
stair with Richards waiting at the bottom. At that same moment in time the front
door opens and Brently Mallard walks through the door with his gripsack and
umbrella. He was no where near the accident and at that same moment Mrs. Mallard
died with what the doctor called a heart disease. And as for the other distant
wife on her last day of living she withdrew from what had became her domain for
one last noble accomplishment. She had cooked supper to last many weeks, two
weeks of fresh-laundered sheets, 5 loafs of bread, and had hand-knitted two
matching sweaters. The man and child ran to the little room, could not contain
themselves to knock flung back the door and there lie his wife/mother restless
without the slightest movement and last deed; her freshly-washed hair. In
relationships people must work together as a family in order to survive and
remain a hole. It is apparent in both The Story of an Hour and A Sorrowful Woman
the families did not work together as one unit. It appeared both wives was so
submerged in there own sorrow and grief that no matter how hard they could have
tried they would have never nor ever wanted to see it through to have what once
may have been and could have been a very beautiful relationship.