Question

In 1-2 sentences, analyze how the author's choice of an ending contributes to the story's aesthetic impact. "Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. 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.

She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.

Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.

But Richards was too late.

When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of joy that kills. "

Answer 1

The author's choice of an abrupt and tragic ending heightens the story's aesthetic impact by juxtaposing the protagonist's fleeting moment of liberation and hope with the crushing inevitability of her reality, ultimately illustrating the fragility of personal freedom in the face of societal constraints. This striking contrast not only evokes profound emotional resonance but also serves as a poignant commentary on the complexities of marriage and the constraints it can impose on individual identity and happiness.