How Does Kate Chopin Present The Woman In The Story Of An Hour

In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author depicts how someone can be trapped in an unproductive and unsatisfying reality because of other’s thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. When combined with the contemporary society’s belief, presumably the later half of the 19th century, a further understanding of Chopin’s thoughts and feelings can be realized. Mrs. Louise Mallard, the victim and messenger of this story, is the image of such a person. Her relationship with her husband is so oppressive and limiting that even death is considered a reasonable means of escape. The condition of life for Mrs. Mallard is terrible, yet for some reason she doesn’t seem to come to the full

Women have strived hard to gain the treatment as men. In the workplace, society, and even at home women were treated as second class to men. In Kate Chopin’s, The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard loses her husband, but her reaction is not what is expected from the reader. Mrs. Mallard’s reaction was from the treatment of her husband and now she finally felt free.

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 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.

Traditionally, women have been known as the less dominant sex. They have been stereotyped as being only housewives and bearers of the children. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men; society, in general; and within a woman herself. Kate Chopin‘s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, focus on a woman’s dilemma near the turn of the 19th century. Contradicting the “normal” or sad assumption of death, “The Story of an Hour” illustrates the significance of death representing freedom. The Story narrates about an hour of Louise Mallard’s life, as she tries to understand, and deal with her feelings of her husbands death.

Kate Chopin, the author of “The Story of the Hour”, writes about Louise Mallard’s mental and emotional suppression during her marriage in 1894 and her overwhelming excitement of her husband’s death. Following the traditional role of wifehood, upheld for centuries, Louise Mallard conforms to her husband’s wishes and desires with no regard to her own personal life. The stress of life and her marriage has caused her to have a weakened heart. Her health is further compromised by the constant conforming to her husband. Louise Mallard steadily falls into a depressive state and questions her love for her husband.

Due to her condition, the news was told to her very carefully through “broken sentences...” which resulted in a wave of grief, causing Louise Mallard to turn to the arms of her sister, Josephine (Chopin 13). Mrs. Mallard’s reaction is atypical to the reaction of others. After the sudden feeling of wild abandonment had diminished, she chooses to be alone rather than to have company of her loved ones as most women do during a time of mourning. Mary E. Papke says

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.

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is the liberating yet tragic tale of Louise Mallard. It is about Louise Mallard finding independence after hearing news of her husband’s supposed death, and later suddenly dying upon his return. In the story, Chopin does not express the true reason for Mrs. Mallard’s abrupt death, but few insights throughout the narration give indication of the actual reason. The last sentence tells that the doctors said “she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills” (217) which is ironic in the fact that Mrs. Mallard did die of heart disease, but it was not the arrival of joy, but rather the loss of it that caused the imminent end of her life. During the course of the time Mrs. Mallard spends in her room reflecting on her husband’s death, we observe as she goes through different stages of self-discovery: from a grieving widow, to the forbidden satisfaction of her newly found freedom, and ultimately to the acceptance of her situation which elates her as she descends the staircase with her sister in her final moments.

Everything was happiness for Louise, after all she will no longer be oppress by having a spouse. At that time, someone was opening the door it was Brently Mallard. Brently saw what was happening in his house; he saw Josephine and Richard there look surprise with tears in their face. In the other part of the room, Brently saw his wife she looked paralyzed. At this moment, Louise dreams start to vanish and what she thought was an open door suddenly closed. Then, Louise heart start to race faster and faster until her hearth could not take her longer until she passed. Chopin clearly sprees the irony in the story when she mention that “when the doctors came they said she died of heart disease—of the joy that kills.” After all this time, Louise was finally happy without the oppression she felt her live. As a result of finding Brently alive, Louise passed away from a heart attack. The author sprees the irony of joy in the story, because it goes from the joy of live to the sadness of dead. With this in mind, Louise found a way to be free by dying and getting away from the reality of the world she was living.

Considered one of American’s foremost feminist authors, Kate Chopin addresses issues challenging to the social and gender roles of the late 1800s. She celebrates women who seek their own identity and focuses on individual journeys of self-discovery. Her short story “The Story of an Hour” has a unique structure in that it adheres to a realistic premise, yet contains a protagonist who represents idealism. Faced with the news that her husband has died, Mrs. Mallard takes ownership of her own emotions and strength to control her life. However, her emotional revelation emerges only upon her husband’s supposed death. Chopin juxtaposes physical death with emotional freedom, suggesting actions and feelings are determined by social, psychological, and emotional forces instead of individual will. In order to show the fragility of Mrs. Mallard and her idealism, Chopin creates a microcosm in Mrs. Mallard’s bedroom of solidarity; a world of freedom and choice within the bedroom and the world of deterministic forces on the other side of the door. Through the setting, Chopin explores the dichotomy between the desire to change one’s situation and the possibility to change one’s situation.

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a short yet complex story, describing Mrs Mallard’s feelings. It focuses on the unfolding emotional state of Mrs Mallard after the news of her husbands death, and has overflowing symbolism and imagery. It is an impressive literary piece that touches the readers’ feelings and mind and allows the reader to have a connection to Mrs Mallard’s emotional process. Although the story is short, it is complete with each word carrying deep sense and meaning. It is written in the 19th century, a time that had highly restrictive gender roles that forbade women to live as they saw fit. Mrs Mallard experiences something not everyone during this time has the luck to have; the happiness of freedom that the reader only

   In her book, The Faces of Eve, Judith Fryer writes, "In the last year of the nineteenth century a woman succeeded where men had failed: Kate Chopin created . . . a woman who is a person." Chopin’s short story, "The Story of an Hour," openly portrays the true feelings of a woman who feels trapped inside her marriage. In the period in which she lived, there were only two alternatives for her to achieve the much desired personal freedom—either she or her husband must die!

The short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is based on a marriage that is extremely rare compared to everyday marriages that one may witness. Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband has died of a horrific train accident. Although it seems as if she upset at first for her loss, she than is suddenly over came by a great deal of joy knowing that she is now free from him (Wilson 266). Later on at the end of the story, she learns that her husband was not among one of the ones who had been in the accident when he showed up back at the house. Chopin uses a completely different type of technique than many would expect to show, pointing out that Mrs. Mallard was filled with disappointment at the sight of seeing her husband alive and ends up passing away from it.

Kate Chopin wrote the short story “The Story of an Hour” in 1894. During that time, women were not allowed to do everything that a man could. All women could really do was cook, clean, and hold down the fort at home. I believe Kate Chopin wrote this story to bring into light what was really going on inside a woman’s brain during that time, and to show their perspective of death.