Mrs Mallard, the protagonist of Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, differs from Miss Meadows on a number of aspects. Unlike Miss Meadows’s effort and tension to finally fit in the society, Mrs Mallard doesn’t care as what the society thinks. Louise Mallard values her freedom and her independent will over marriage and society. Whereas Miss Meadows seems to be marrying Basil, perhaps not out of love, but to finally remove the tag of a spinster at an age of thirty-years. Miss Meadows undergoes an emotional turmoil when she reads that Basil wants to call off their marriage whereas Louise feels free and grateful just within an hour of receiving the news of her husband’s death. Louise looks forward to living life alone and for herself but over here, Miss Meadows looks ahead to finally stop living life all by herself.

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When at the beginning Miss Meadows was on her way to the hall to teach her students, she was already not in a good, “cold sharp despair buried deep in her heart.” Her mind was unable to leave the contents of the letter, written by her fiancé, Basil, who wanted to break the engagement. She was miserable and sad after reading the letter. Soon Miss Meadows made her way to the music hall where her favourite student, Mary Beazely, was ready for the daily ritual of presenting the teacher with flowers which Miss Meadows used to accept happily. However, this time she completely ignored Mary Beazely and turned towards the class and told them, “page four teen, please and mark the accents well. The so-called music peace was “A Lament” and it seemed to aptly suit the mood of their teacher, though it was not known to the students. As the music echoed in the hall, Miss Meadows continued being lost in the letter. She then focused on her students and told them it was not the proper way to do it. She asked them to put expression to the song by feeling the sadness, grief and sorrow. They must break on the last line as if they were fading away to die. She then thought that she too would fade away one day as soon as the news of her engagement broken off got spread. Soon she received the news of the headmistress wanting to see her. She rushed to the headmistress’s room who informed she had a telegram for her. The first thought that came in Miss Meadows’s head was that Basil had committed suicide, she quickly tore off the pink letter and read the contents. Basil had written it to say that she should ignore the last letter as he had been mad enough to write it. Miss Meadows couldn’t control her happiness at the prospect of such good news and left for the hall. Only this time her walk was of joy and happiness. When she entered the music hall again, she made it a point to praise the flowers given my Mary and asked the students to sing another song. The song, which they sang at the end, was indeed not a lament but a joyful song, “page thirty-two.” It talked about flowers and fruits and ribbons and Miss Meadows asked her students to feel the happiness, just like she was feeling at that moment, through the song and express it out.

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Miss Meadows was taking a class while being lost in thoughts over the heartbreaking letter she received from her fiancé, Basil, who wanted to call off their engagement. While she was thinking this, a door opened and a little girl in blue walked up to her saying the headmistress, Miss Wyatt, wanted to see Miss Meadows. She rushed to the headmistress’s room who informed her that she had a telegram for her. The first thought that came in Miss Meadows’s head was that Basil had committed suicide, she quickly tore off the pink letter and read the contents. Basil had written it to say that she should ignore the last letter as he had been mad enough to write it. Everything was fine between them and that he had bought the hat-stand. Miss Meadows couldn’t control her happiness at the prospect of such good news and left for the hall. Only this time her walk was of joy and happiness. When she entered the music hall again, she made it a point to praise the flowers given my Mary, which she had rejected initially, and asked the students to sing another song. The song, which they sang at the end, was indeed not a lament but a joyful song, from “page thirty-two.” It talked about flowers and fruits and ribbons and Miss Meadows asked her students to feel the happiness, just like she was feeling at that moment, through the song and express it out.

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Katherine Mansfield expertly used symbols and imagery to depict Miss Meadows’s transient mood throughout the story. The author used symbols like the flowers and the fading leaves and the cold and drab weather and so on. She even used contrasting imageries to approach the inner conflict of Miss Meadows. Imageries like the sun versus the cold and drab weather, summer warmth against the cold autumnal weather. The songs played in the classes was also used to portray Miss Meadows. When she was sad and dejected, the song played was a dreary one but after receiving the good news, the song changed into a positive one. Even the initial rejection of the chrysanthemum and finally accepting it showed a change in her mood.

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In this short story, the baton carried by Miss Meadows denotes authority and control. The use of a baton in music is primarily to enlarge and enhance the manual and bodily movements of the musicians. Similarly here, being the music teacher, Miss Meadows having a baton symbolizes her authoritative power over her students during her classes. She controls their movements and how one should sing.

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