How To Write An Essay On The Story Of An Hour

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 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.

In “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin demonstrates her ability to show characters’ drastic changes in personality and mentality through their way of thinking. Chopin’s protaggonist, Mrs. Mallard is suffering from the news of Mr. Mallard’s death, but her feelings are changing throughout the story. Mrs. Mallard is a feeble wife, who undergoes the grief of her husband’s death, finds relief and freedom, and for that she becomes a strong and independent woman. The story greets it’s readers with Mrs. Mallard’s fragility.

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

Who is Kate Chopin exactly? Notably, people acknowledge Chopin for her novel “The Awakening”, in which she is vocal about women gaining independence, but society did not particularly like her vocalizing her opinion. Hence, Chopin was a feminist, who wrote short stories and some novels. “The Story of an Hour” written by Chopin is an exhibition of a woman coming into her own independence. Chopin wrote this poem around a time when women were inferior to men, although Chopin’s message is clearly heard throughout the poem. In particular, Mrs. Mallard is the main character in “The Story of an Hour”, and she is waiting for the moment that she will have the privilege as a woman. Knowingly, when Mrs. Mallard got married, she lost her identity, represented by the open window, her name, and heart trouble, which are symbols of her newfound freedom.

`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,

When Louise was married, it probably was the time when it was the norm to be a subservient wife to your husband. In "Girl" it was the norm to be a subservient daughter. Both of them were bound within cultural and social norms just as Chopin stated that "...men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (49). After learning of her husband's death, Louise later thinks to herself that finally there would be "no powerful will bending hers" which confirms that her husband does control her (49). Meanwhile, in Kincaid's "Girl", the whole text consists of oral instructions told in an assertive manner on how the girl should do certain tasks to be accepted as a proper girl in their society (355). Furthermore, Kincaid's whole text seems to be a dialogue but there are only two lines in which the girl responds: "but I don't sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school" and "but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread" (355, 356); When she did respond, she was either ignored or reprimanded. In conclusion, these two characters had a person in their lives who made them repress who they really are just so that they would be socially

Kate Chopin set the primary precedent of a desired woman representative promoting equal rights. Chopin’s feminist ideology shaped the basis of ¨The Story of an Hour.¨ She encountered hatred and rejection from the patriarchal society since her writings portrayed women as ¨passionate and emancipated¨ (Hicks). Unlike Louise Mallard, Chopin knew the implications of the institution of marriage; however, it did not stop her from pursuing a union with Oscar Chopin. Throughout her lifetime, she had been exposed to the essence of equality of both sexes. Fatherless at the age of four, Chopin was ¨strongly influenced by her mother and her maternal grandmother.

“The Story of an Hour” is very cleverly written through the eyes of a feminist who, herself, has been subjected to a life of secondary roles because of her anatomy and has first hand seen these encounters. Kate Chopin used many of her experiences that she observed from living in New Orleans in many of her works to show the middle class city life (Koloski). One can agree that, “The Story of an Hour” embodies what most females were fighting for in the time period; the freedom of being oppressed by their husbands, relationships, and men in general. From the very beginning of the story, Kate Chopin helps to portray the life of a woman and women during her time period of the late 19th

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

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.

A Woman Far Ahead of Her Time, by Ann Bail Howard, discusses the nature of the female characters in Kate Chopin’s novel’s and short stories. Howard suggests that the women in Chopin’s stories are longing for independence and feel torn between the feminine duties of a married woman and the freedom associated with self-reliance. Howard’s view is correct to a point, but Chopin’s female characters can be viewed as more radically feminist than Howard realizes. Rather than simply being torn between independent and dependant versions of her personality, “The Story of an Hour’s” Mrs. Mallard actually rejoices in her newfound freedom, and, in the culmination of the story, the position of the woman

Throughout the short story, “The Story of an Hour”, readers are introduced to characters whose lives change drastically in the course of this writing. Through Kate Chopin’s story we can identify many different themes and examples of symbolism in her writing. Chopin’s choice of themes in this writing are no surprise due to the time frame of which this story was written. Chopin often wrote stories with of women’s rights, and is noted as one of America’s first open feminists. As this story of an ill, helpless woman finding out her husband has died tragically in a railroad accident unfolds, we can see Chopin’s themes such as freedom and independence for women becoming clear. Chopin uses symbolism to convey these feminist themes in many ways that many not be entirely clear to readers.

Themes of Female Identity and Discovery Kate Chopin presents theme of female discovery and identify in her work “Story of an Hour.” In the story, you never realize how Mrs. Mallard felt about her husband’s death until you analyze. However,  Kate Chopin does an excellent job of emphasizing the amount of joy being free from the control of her husband, while in a world where women aren’t recognized as being equal to men. Chopin shows this joy as Mrs. Mallard mentions “free, free, free!” showing relief and joy of being able to start a new life.

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.