'An Act Of Vengeance And The Story Of An Hour'

Written in 1894, “The Story of an Hour” is a story of a woman who, through the erroneously reported death of her husband, experienced true freedom. Both tragic and ironic, the story deals with the boundaries imposed on women by society in the nineteenth century. The author Kate Chopin, like the character in her story, had first-hand experience with the male-dominated society of that time and had experienced the death of her husband at a young age (Internet). The similarity between Kate Chopin and her heroine can only leave us to wonder how much of this story is fiction and how much is personal experience.

Kate Chopin is known for being criticized for empowering the subject of female sexuality and independence. In Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, it is placed in a time where men were known as being the head of the household while women were only in charge of raising the children and caring for the home. In the 1890s, women didn’t have so much power to themselves compared to today’s society where female empowerment is frequently encouraged. Chopin’s story narrates a sequence of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions that goes within the motion of the story. As she overcomes the sudden death of her husband, her emotion of grief soon turns into the sudden feeling of freedom, later on emerging into a strong independent woman.

Isabels short story, “An Act of Vengeance” is an example of the power she depicts towards women along with her foundation, “The Isabel Allende Foundation” which she states, “Empowers women and girls worldwide”. In her text, in which a young teen’s father is killed by the same man who raped her and took away dignity and reason for living building up hate towards him. The irony is as Allende states, “She searched her heart for the hatred she had cultivated throughout those thirty years, but she was incapable of finding...Then she understood with horror that by thinking about him every moment, and savoring his punishment in advance, her feelings had become reversed and she had fallen in love with him”(Allende#1). The hatred and punishment she wanted to give him for what he did turned into an unstoppable love. Isabel Allende is a strong feminist and it can be seen throughout her writing, reason for this is her personal experiences, causing it to change the way she refers when writing about the opposite sex.

The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin is the tragic story of a woman whose newfound position as a widow gives her strength. She develops a sense of freedom as she embraces her husband's death as an opportunity to establish her own identity. The tragedy is when her newfound identity gets stripped away as the appearance of her husband reveals that he is still alive. The disappointment from this tragedy kills her with a heart attack symbolizing the many conflicts that she faced throughout the story. The conflicts the character faces within herself and society show that the social norms for women were suppressing to their strength and individuality as human beings.

When first reading Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour," one may not typically be surprised at its ending, write it off as one of those creepy "back from the dead" horror stories and forget about it. There is more to this story than simply horror. The author is making a very strong, however subtle, statement towards humanity and women's rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin shows how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a loving partnership.

In conclusion, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin demonstrates how a woman desires individuality and freedom. She goes through an emotional rollercoaster to achieve the short amount of independence she will live through but still shows how she is a loving wife even after she makes us believe she has a horrible marriage. Her cause of death can be inferred to be her loss of freedom rather than the joy of seeing her husband

Kate Chopin used her stories as a way to express her thoughts about society. One major theme Kate wrote about was how women have no freedom or fair treatment. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, Kate expresses her disappointment of how women are treated by their husbands. Kate reveals that she believes that marriage is not always as happy as it seems. In the story, it is revealed

The dramatic irony in the line “ — of the joy that kills” is a powerful indicator that shows restrictions that are placed on woman. This line is ironic because the readers know that she did not die because of the joy when she saw her husband but in fact the shock and disappointment

Any short story contains a theme or themes. The purpose of a theme is to give the reader an idea of what the story is about. The short stories "An Act of Vengeance" by Isabel Allende and “The Story of an Hour" by Kate Choplin both have a major theme in common. A way to discover the theme of a short story can be told by the use of character, plot, setting, symbolism, and style. The authors of both “An act of Vengeance" and "An Story of an Hour " most likely used the theme of feminine empowerment in society mostly dominated by males because at the time in setting women's independence and freedom was not likely.

`The Story of an Hour' was written in the nineteenth century and during this time highly restrictive gender roles forbade women to live as they saw fit. Kate Chopin presents in her story,

Kate Chopin was a feminist and she believed in women's rights and the betterment of women as a whole. Her writings inspires women to achieve more than what men would like for them to have and to become. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," it describes how a woman felt trapped by her husband and how his death set her free, which in turn allowed her to become her own person and to do the things that should wanted to do and achieve. Through the story, Kate Chopin, shows how it is to be oppressed by another being,

The Story of an hour written by Kate Chopin is the best short-story because theme, characters, point of view, and style show the attitude that some women felt or may feel regarding marriage being repressive in their life and a longing for freedom. The story opens with Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine informing her that her husband has been killed. Because of Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition Josephine and Richards, who is a friend of the family and there to help deliver the news, are concerned with how the news will affect Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard hears the news to is over taken with grief and locks herself in her room. While in her room she imagines herself in her new life that is no longer bogged down by her duties as a wife. When

Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour is a great story that conveys an important message about life and how difficult it can be for women, particularly in previous centuries. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when this story was written, women were quite often mistreated and had to live restricted lives that lacked opportunity. Generally, women weren?t liberated during the 19th century. Traditionally, women did all the hard work in the house and had no opportunities to make their own living or pursue their own personal dreams. Kate Chopin does an outstanding job of portraying a woman living in these times. The Story of an Hour is a good depiction of the unspoken repression that women faced in the past. Kate Chopin's major theme of the

In the story The story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard and her conflict about her husband dying and the conflict that she has to face after she hears the news. Mrs. Mallard had an internal conflict with her independence that she now has. But with this independence comes the opinions of the society and how they think women should act and what they think women should do.

Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour" is largely about the forms of repression that women were forced to endure during the epoch in which the story was written (1894) and during much of the time that preceded it. During this time period, women quite frequently had to subjugate themselves to the will of their husbands, or to some other man who had a significant amount of control over their lives. Chopin chooses to address this phenomenon in an indirect manner with this particular short story, although she does so in a thematic manner which, of course, is the ""¦idea that lies behind the story. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete" (Clugston 2010, 7.1) The theme that "The Story of an Hour" is based upon is the notion of the liberation of women from the overbearing influence of men. Chopin chooses to illustrate this theme quite dramatically through literary devices of symbolism and metaphor.