10 questions
How do Mrs. Mallard's feelings evolve throughout the story?
She is initially elated with joy that her husband survives the crash, then becomes distraught when she realized she misses her opportunity to be on her own, and finally is overcome with shock that Josephine and Mr. Richards are having an affair.
At first, she weeps wildly, then calms down and is hopeful of her future independence, and finally is so shocked at her husband's return that she dies.
She first cries when she sees her husband on the news, then screams when she realizes she will have to provide for herself, and finally accepts that she will need to marry Mr. Richards in order to survive.
All answers can be supported with text evidence.
How does Mrs. Mallard's thought process demonstrate that she is different from other women?
Most women would have been unable to accept news of their husband's death, but she comes to terms with it rather quickly and realizes she loves the idea of living independently more than she loves him.
Most women would have been ecstatic that such an abusive spouse died in an ironic twist of fate, but Mrs. Mallard fails to see the irony.
The fact that she is unable to process her husband's death shows how she is actually far less emotionally intelligent than other women like her sister, Josephine.
Mrs. Mallard is actually not different from other women. She is an example of how all women are only good as housewives.
At the end of the story we learn that Brently Mallard
was cheating on Mrs. Mallard with Josephine.
jumped off the train before it crashed.
was never even on the train in the first place.
made up the entire story to play a joke on his wife.
How does the author use irony at the end of the story? (2 correct answers)
Mrs. Mallard was actually the one who was supposed to be on the train, not her husband.
Josephine and Richards were playing a joke on Mrs. Mallard and the joke causes her to die.
The doctors believe she dies because she is so happy Brently is alive, but the audience knows she actually was happy that he had died.
The moment Mrs. Mallard begins looking forward to living her life, she dies of a heart attack.
Brently Mallard is
Louise's husband
Josephine's husband
Richards
All of the above
Which of the following is not one of Mrs. Mallard's conflicts?
She suspects Brently of having an affair with Josephine
She has a heart condition
She believes Brently had died
Brently is actually alive
In 1894, this story was probably controversial because
Railroad accidents were common and this story made people lobby for safer railroads.
Women were not supposed to think independently and Mrs. Mallard's thought process was too extreme.
Authors did not commonly use irony and Kate Chopin's use of irony was groundbreaking.
None of the above.
The moral of the story is
The women and men should live happily ever after
That women should be content doing what their husband's want them to
That women should desire an independent life free from the constraints of marriage
All of the above
This story is written in
1st person POV
3rd person limited POV
3rd person omniscient POV
none of the above
Which of the following details best demonstrates Mrs. Mallard's feelings toward her newfound freedom?
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully.
What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms.
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.