Feminist Perspectives in a Story of an Hour Essay example

Kate Chopin was born Katherine O’Flaherty on February 8, 1850 in St. Louis Missouri (213). Chopin had grown up in comfortable circumstances and began her life as a contemporary young woman (213). In 1888, six years after the death of her husband, Oscar Chopin, Kate subsequently became seriously committed to furthering her literary career (214). Chopin is oftentimes noted to be “a women who lived before her time, whose stories might be seen as a vindication of the rights of women, and an author whose literary works were controversial and unappreciated until many years later” (TheStorm&FeministPhilosophy.com). This description of Chopin’s work is distinctly evident in two of her most distinguished short stories, At The ‘Cadian Ball and its sequel The Storm. Both short stories embody a common theme; women challenging their confining gender roles. Although both works embody this theme, Chopin takes differing approaches in fulfilling this explicit theme; At The ‘Cadian Ball takes a “softer” approach in exposing this already controversial theme while The Storm takes a shockingly erotic approach in revealing the theme.

Kate Chopin is an American author known for her deception of impacts, the restricted horizon of the nineteenth-century society, gave birth to women. At that time, people were restrictive about the perspective of a woman’s position in society. In the stories “Story of an Hour” and “Desiree’s Baby” there are a few similarities and many differences between the main characters of each piece. Each woman has a struggling relationship with her husband. In both stories, Chopin’s comparison of Mrs. Mallard and Desiree is to showcase how every woman handles situations such as their age difference, and the similarities between freedom and death.

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is a short story of a married woman reacting to the news of her husband’s death occurred in a train accident. During the late nineteenth century, women were to be dependent on their husbands as they did not have any power to express their emotions in the society. Women were meant to do all the household chores and take care of the family while the husband went to work. In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin skillfully uses the character, Mrs. Mallard, and symbols, such as closed door versus open window and heart trouble to give a better understanding of the theme of the joy of independence in the story.

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” was published in 1894 in Vogue, during a time when women do not have any legal rights. They have low education level and have no opportunity to work; what they can do is stay at home and manage the family. All their lives, they rely on their husband. Women at that time do not think about why they should be treated this way; they were being silenced by society. Kate Chopin uses the character Mrs. Mallard as the representative of all women who wants freedom at that time, and she criticizes the way society treats them, yet the difference of Mrs. Mallard’s values compared to society’s makes her become egotistic and her death end up not changing people’s mind of how to treat women properly.

It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long" (Chopin). Accordingly, there will be no more persistence on the way she lives and the way she acts. All her dreams are coming true, she sees her husband is a restriction upon her life, but as soon as she realizes that he won’t be a burden anymore, she is delighted. Society’s view in women was quite delicate, they were expected to do housework and be on their two feet at all times. The role of a house women includes cleaning, cooking, respecting your husband, taking care of your children. Chopin, like many other women’s in the late 18th liked knowing that someday women will have the privilege of doing anything they desire. Mrs. Mallard felt oppressed in her marriage, but for the very first time ever, she feels the probability of constructing her own existence and identifying prospects for her own

The author has to choose the gender of their main character, and by Kate Chopin choosing a woman it set a completely different mood to the story rather than it being a man. The time this story was written were women were suppose to be submissive and loyal to their husbands, caring and nurturing for their children, and well-bred, catering hostesses. If a woman were to overstep such boundaries, she would be considered unladylike, scandalous, or even immoral. Society looks differently upon a person depending on their gender. Sexism develops and stereotypes are labeled. Different situations receive different judgment depending on gender. “The Story of an Hour” is a passive aggressive call out against society. “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion...” The most impactful word throughout the story is “she” and it changes the personal depiction of the reader. Subconsciously a person can associate characteristics of people by using one word. The content and impact of individual words used throughout the story plays a tremendous role in how the story is interpreted. The specification of gender ties into the word “she” which is the most important word throughout the story. For this reason, the analysis of the specific and nitpicked vocabulary for this story was vital to the social influence and comprehension of the reality for gender differences.

The Story of an Hour Over years the roles of women and their rights have drastically changed. They have been dominated, trapped and enslaved by their marriage. Womens have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and could stand for their own. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin might be a short story, but it showed and explained how women's felt obligated to live and be with their husbands, despite the fact that they were unhappy with them.

Although Mrs. Mallard may seem of concern to a small group of readers, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about feminism. The Story of an Hour is about the secret and repressed desires of women and their freedom. Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour is a feminist piece of renewal and hope for a grieving young “widow”. In the late 19th century women were still being based off their husband's property(s) and rights. In the late 19th century women played "traditional" roles, society influenced us women to be homely and women decided being typical housewives. Females in the 19th centuries either married by choice or by their parents' choice most of the time parents wanted their children to marry into a wealthy family, this could have been the case with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard.

Historically, marriage has been a necessity for women survival as men have protected and cared for them. However, in the past century the women’s liberation has removed women’s dependence on men. In The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, the institution of marriage is called into question as to whether a woman needs to be married to be truly happy.

The independence and equality of women 200 years ago was extremely different from what it is today. Kate Chopin brings this issue to light in her short story, "The Story of an Hour". Chopin uses the setting and the character of Mrs. Mallard to convey the theme of women's freedom in the 1800s. This is shown through the imagery outside Mrs. Mallard's room, her new sense of independence, and her sudden demise at the end of the story. Chopin uses imagery to symbolize Mrs. Mallard's new independence after her husband's death.

Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of An Hour” is about the importance of equal rights for women, and the narrator of the story illustrates this important theme through emotions, setting and symbolism throughout the story. I am first going to talk about the emotions expressed by the main character Louise Mallard a recent widower. The narrator expresses emotions from our character Mrs. Mallard throughout. For example, upon finding the news of her husband’s death she experiences “Sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (496) Expressing a type of grief any normal widower would acknowledge, however the main character Louise Mallard “Did not hear the story as many women would have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability

Despite her craving for liberation, Mrs. Mallard still experienced heartbreak from her loss. She cried “ wild tears” when her sister relayed the message (Chopin 1). Women are supposed to be an emotional wreck without her husband. She was expected to be a broken woman by all of society, but what if she wasn’t so broken? The critic, Barbara Ewell said “love is not a substitute for selfhood; indeed selfhood is loves precondition.” Mrs. Mallard didn’t hate her husband; She simply desired self-independence more than her marriage. Any longing for female autonomy was hushed by the 19th century, patriarchal society and thus, cognizant of societal expectations, Mrs. Mallard responds to the news of her husband’s death with expected devastation.

The short story, “The Story of an Hour,” illustrates the apparent bondage of 19th century marriage. Using setting, symbolism, and dialogue, Kate Chopin skillfully weaves her argument of a wife’s ‘enslavement’ through the captivating tale of Louise Mallard. Chopin’s is a very emotional story that powerfully depicts the “fate” of females during her time. (clear and engaging opening )

Mallard sits down, she starts to look like a tougher female. She stares out of the house through the huge open window which could also indicate the open chances accessible to her now and starts to realize how her marriage ready her into a smaller individual. She understands that she has remained living her life through limits triggered from being married and now sees that she can start to live for herself. “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature”, this displays the feminist theory that it was anticipated females were burdened and displays the male-controlled philosophy. She was giving her spirit and liberty to a man that detained all of the control in the association. Marriage in the story, seems to be the male having total power over the females and it appears like Mrs. Mallard believed that she wasn’t even permitted to have her individual opinions which was possibly

Kate Chopin presents themes of female discovery and identity in her work “Story Of An Hour.” Figurative language was used as a way to establish tone, the development of characters, and the movement of the plot set in a time of difficulties regarding women’s rights, or feminism.