Louise Mallard - A woman whose husband is reportedly killed in a train accident.

When Louise
hears the news, she is secretly happy because she is now free. She is filled with a new lust for life,
and although she usually loved her husband, she cherishes her newfound independence even more.
She has a heart attack when her husband, alive after all, comes home.
Brently Mallard - Louises husband, supposedly killed in a train accident. Although Louise
remembers Brently as a kind and loving man, merely being married to him also made him an
oppressive factor in her life. Brently arrives home unaware that there had been a train accident.
Josephine - Louises sister. Josephine informs Louise about Brentlys death.
Richards - Brentlys friend. Richards learns about the train accident and Brentlys death at the
newspaper office, and he is there when Josephine tells the news to Louise.
1. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of
those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of
intelligent thought.
This quotation appears after Louise has gone alone to her room to deal with the news of Brentlys
death. After an initial fit of tears, Louise looks out her window at the wide-open spaces below. This
quotation is our first hint that Louises reaction to Brentlys death will be surprising and that Louise is
very different from other women. Whereas most women would gaze reflectively at the sky and
clouds, Louises gaze suggests something different, something shrewder or more active. What she
sees as she gazes out the window is different from what other women would likely see after their
husbands have died. Not long after this passage, Louise acknowledges the joyous feeling of
independence that Brentlys death has given her. Here, at the window, the first breaths of these
feelings are stirring, and her intelligent thought will quickly engage once again as she processes
these feelings and allows herself to analyze what they mean.
2. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a
shudder that life might be long.
This quotation appears close to the end of the story, just before Louise leaves her bedroom to go
back downstairs, and illuminates the extent of Louises elation. Before Brentlys death, Louise
viewed her life with trepidation, envisioning years of dull, unchanging dependence and oppression.
The shudder she felt was one of dread. Now, however, she is free and independent, and her life is
suddenly worth living. Whereas she once hoped life would be short, she now prays for a long, happy
life. This passage, besides showing us how fully Louise feels her independence, also highlights the
unexpectedness of Louises reaction. Rather than dread a life lived alone, this solitude is, for Louise,

reason enough to anticipate the future eagerly. When Brently returns, she dies, unable to face the
return of the life that shed dreaded so much.

1.

From what ailment does Mrs. Mallard suffer?

kidney failure
heart trouble
detached retinas
H1N1

What might Mrs. Mallard's ailment symbolize?

her inability to see things as they are
her inability to filter out less important things in life
her unhappiness and troubling emotions
a raging desire for pig flesh

Who breaks the news of Mr. Mallard's death?

Richards
Roberts
Josephine
Friar John

2.

3.

4.

The following passage is an example of _________ irony: "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the
door--you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door."

situational

dramatic

verbal

holistic

5.

The following passage is an example of _________ irony: "Some one was opening the front door
with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard"

situational

dramatic

verbal

kookalooka

6.

The following passage is an example of _________ irony: "When the doctors came they said she
had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills."

situational

dramatic

verbal

feral

7.

What is significant about the story's setting?

The story's set in a time period that afforded women very few rights.
It takes place in a large house.
The story encompasses one hour.
The setting makes no difference.

How could we best characterize Brently Mallard

He is an abusive husband who deserves to die in a fiery train wreck.
He's a conniving man who set up the train wreck story so he could scare his wife and

8.

kill her.

He's a typical husband in the late 19th-century.


9.

10.

He's an adulterer.
How would the story change if it were written today?
There's no way Mallard leaves the house without permission.
Richards calls Mallard on his cell phone and realizes he's alive.
Mrs. Mallard smashes Mr. Mallard's SUV with a golf club and demands a divorce.
Richards tells Mrs. Mallard that her husband's dead in order to get her in
bed. It works. Mallard walks in on the two in a passionate embrace and Mrs. Mallard
dies of a heart attack.
In what season does the story take place and why is it significant?
The story takes place in Spring and symbolizes a new beginning for Mrs.
Mallard.

The story takes place in Summer and symbolizes the burning hot love Mrs. Mallard has
for her husband.
The story takes place in Winter and symbolizes that everything dies.