Essay about Kate Chopin Short Stories

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.

Setting exists in every form of fiction, representing elements of time, place, and social context throughout the work. These elements can create particular moods, character qualities, or features of theme. Throughout Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," differing amounts and types of the setting are revealed as the plot develops. This story deals with a young woman's emotional state as she discovers her own independence in her husband's death, then her "tragic" discovery that he is actually alive. The constituents of setting reveal certain characteristics about the main character, Louise Mallard, and are functionally important to the story

At the time of this story many women didn’t have any source of revenue, so in order for her to gain the money she wanted to get the freedom she finally deserved; she would have to obtain it in two ways: inherited from her husband or receive it from her family. Mrs. Mallard was on her way to becoming the free woman she needed to be but there was this one thing holding her back, money, and the only the question was how she was going to get it in a respectable way. In the later half on the 19th century women looked at as the wife and mother, keeper of the household, guardian of moral purity of all who lived there. The home was to be a haven of comfort and quiet and sheltered from the harsh realities of the working world. Children were to be cherished and nurtured, and to pulling against these traditions was the sense of urgency. Women’s roles were meant to steady, but women could not help but see opportunities for themselves in this growth. Jobs opened up in factories, retail establishments and offices, giving women new options.

     The background of the story gives us the idea of what Mrs. Mallard’s marriage meant to her. We see a picture of a young well-to-do wife who seems to be very pleased with her life. We also get the impression that she was deeply in love with her husband.

Mallard is unsatisfied with the limitations of her marriage, however, like Desiree, she is submissive and believes that the end of her duties as a wife will come at the death of her husband and her freedom will be given to her. Also, she experiences little or no feelings because of her marriage. This is shown when Mrs. Mallard, after hearing of her husband’s death, cries, but ironically she senses a moment of euphoric pleasure at the awaiting freedom in her remaining life. “She saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.” Mrs. Millard is now aware of things that were not noticeable before such as: the beginning of spring, patches of blue sky through clouds, the twittering of sparrows and the smelling of the pending rain, which may signify the nature of her freedom. Mrs. Mallard would now be able to live her life outside the home and find her identity.

Mallard both lead distinctive lives due to their beliefs, environment and health. At an early age Janie married Logan Killicks because of her grandmother’s dying wish (Hurston, 15). Janie soon left Killicks and married Joes Starks a prosperous man who’s desire was to become rich and well known (Hurston, 29). Starks passed away and Janie married a younger man than her named Tea Cake (Hurston 116). Janie left her home town with Teacake and had the privilege to travel to new places and experience freedom, love and happiness (Hurston, 131). A hurricane arrived to the muck and Teacake was bitten by a dog with rabbis, Teacake tried to kill Janie, and in self-defense Janie killed Teacake. After Teacake’s death Janie was able to “pull her horizon like a great net” (Hurston, 173). Janie accomplished her dreams through perseverance and was satisfied. On the other hand Mrs. Mallard was a house wife that constantly obliged her husband’s orders and felt trapped. She was also “afflicted with a heart trouble” (Chopin, 1). A railroad accident occurred and Mr. Mallard was pronounced dead. Mrs. Mallard began to seek for freedom and said “free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin, 15). Mrs. Mallard was going to exert herself to a life filled with freedom and happiness however, Mr. Brently returned and Mrs. Mallard then died “of a heart disease”(Chopin, 21). Mrs. Mallard was going to fulfil her ambition to lead life with privilege but, unfortunately she died before she could begin.

In the early 19th century, women were oppressed, and marriage was a social status, not a choice. Mrs. Mallard was a wife during 19th Century and her home was where she would spend most of her days. She also suffers from a heart condition. She learns of the tragic news on the first floor of her two story home. Her sister Josephine was the one to tell her “ in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing.”(287) The news was revealed as delicate as possible, due to Mrs. Mallard's heart condition. Mrs. Mallard heard the news, she wept, a sense of grief comes upon her. Once she removed herself from her sister Josephine's arms, she went off to her room. It reads, “ When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. No one to follow her”(287). During this time, women were looked down upon if they were not married. Most women were given away by their

As a forerunner of the modern feminist movement, Kate Chopin explored bold new characterizations of her female subjects. Chopin is famous for her progressive depiction of the female characters in her stories. Two such stories, 'The Storm' and 'The Story of an Hour,' examine and refute the long held ideal of the subservient wife. 'The Storm,' written in 1898 but not published until later because of its provocative content, describes the passionate extramarital affair between Calixta and Alcee, a former lover. 'The Story of an Hour' follows Louise Mallard as she deals with the death of her husband. Chopin uses the extraordinary events in the characters' lives to

The story continues to reveal a conflict Mrs. Mallard may have had in the relationship with her husband. Though she speaks about him lovingly and knows that he loved her, there is something deeper that is brought to the surface in

The story unviels its theme at this point: Mrs. Mallard, for the first time in her life, experiences a new-found freedom. Instead of dreading the future without her husband, "she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely". She could now live her life and be absolutely free of the imposing will of her husband: There would be no one to live for her during the coming years; she would live for herself. There would be now powerful will bending hers in the blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.(15)

In Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," there is much hatred. The first hatred detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Mr. Mallard. Before Louise's reaction is revealed, Chopin turns to how the widow feels by describing the world according to her outlook of it after the bad news. Louise is said to "not hear the story as many women have heard the same." Rather, she accepts it and goes to her room to be alone. Now the person reading starts to see the world through Louise's eyes, a world full of new life.

Feminist American author, Kate Chopin, is known for her stories with strong and daring female lead stories. Her common themes display women, femininity, marriage, liberation, oppression, and perseverance. The Louisiana based novelist famous works started the feminist movement. Chopin’s stories The Story of an Hour and The Storm have many similarities and differences as do the majority of her work. The main characters, Calixta and Mrs. Mallard, both portray an odd attitude towards marriage.

conquest and triumph. Before hearing that her husband was killed Mrs. Mallard was trapped in the life of being just a wife for the rest of her life. Now she was free of the title and could go back to living her own life. Back in the late 1900s almost all woman had felt the same way. They were almost nothing except for slaves to their own home.

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

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.