Story Of An Hour Gender Inequality Essay

     Relationships seem to be the favorite subject of Kate Chopin’s stories. As Margaret Bauer suggests that Chopin is concerned with exploring the “dynamic interrelation between women and men, women and patriarchy, even women and women” (Bauer 146). In “The Story of an Hour” Chopin deals with the subject of marriage. She illustrates the influence of family alliance on individual freedom. According to Wohlpart,“The Story of an Hour” describes the journey of Mrs. Mallard against the Cult of True Womanhood as she slowly becomes aware of her own desires and thus of a feminine self that has long been suppressed”(Wohlpart 2). The Cult of True Womanhood in the XIX century included “purity” and “domesticity”. The former suggested that women must maintain their virtue. The latter – denied them their intellectual and professional capabilities (Papke 12). Being the victim of this Cult, Louise Mallard was a good example of a wife without “her own desires and feminine self”.

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’s “The Story of an Hour” is set in the late 1800’s when women were perceived much differently then they are today. Chopin uses the character of Mrs. Mallard to illustrate how women were typically viewed by society in those years. Women were seen to be emotionally inferior to men and were expected to put aside their own aspirations in life to tend to the needs of there husband and children.

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.

Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour”, uses the death of Mrs. Mallard’s husband to reveal the female oppression that took place in their marriage. Chopin uses a great deal of symbolism, particularly in the open window, to reveal the theme of the oppression of women in this story. Chopin chose to begin the story with “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was conflicted with heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 555). While the reader assumes that Mrs. Mallard has a medical heart condition, anyone who has done a close read of this story can assume that Chopin chose “heart trouble” to symbolize the conflicting feelings Mrs. Mallard

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.

“There would be no one to live for in those coming years; she would live for herself ” (Chopin 14). Her ecstatic reaction to her new life demonstrates that Mrs. Mallard has never had been able to achieve her own goals in life, but now that her husband was gone, there wasn’t anyone to stop her in her new ambitions. Bernard Koloski states that “Scores of critics have described it as a woman’s cry of joy over liberation from male dominance” (3). She now knows that her new found freedom will lead her to a life of happiness and as she begins “drinking in the elixir of life through that open window” (Chopin

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.

In the 1900s, women were restricted to home and family duties, living a life with low expectations and no encouragement to pursue an education or careers. Women were also deprived of their individual and social life. The short story published in 1894 “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin demonstrates oppression, which can be defined as “the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. Ms.Mallard (the main character) is overwhelmed by a sense of freedom after finding out of a railroad accident, with her husband being one of the victims. Throughout the plot, the feeling of oppression and repression are subtle, as Louise Mallard has a short glance of independence before her heart gets the best of her.

The Story of an Hour is short, yet, contains important examples of gender roles in marriage. They are important because they represent how women felt married in the 19th century due to male dominance that manifested throughout marriages all over the world. In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard is a wife that is, at first, seen as distraught, because of her husband’s death. She starts to cry and run to her room, to soon be lifted with the joy that she is now free. It is clear that she felt trapped in the marriage and is now happy that there is no one controlling her any longer. Mrs. Mallard is a prime example of women in marriages in the 19th century, and even some today. Unfortunately, they have to experience sexism from their husbands. Women are dominated by men in marriage and are expected to acquire the stereotypical gender roles.

(Paragraph 23). The message that Chopin is trying to get across through Louise Mallard is that women are oppressed mainly by society and their husbands, but also because of personal ailments like sickness. Oppression is any relationship that causes one side to be disadvantaged in comparison to the other. In “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard feels oppressed because of her heart trouble, her role in society, and her relationship with her husband. Mrs. Mallard’s

The 1800’s. A time of elitism, frilly dresses, and unfortunately...sexism. Kate Chopin was a young feminist writer who had a lot to say about sexism and chose to speak her mind through literature. The Story of an Hour, which was written in 1894, is a tale about a woman with a weak heart being told with the sudden news that her husband has died, and while at first she is rather upset, she soon realizes that she wasn’t happy with him at all, and that now that he was gone she was finally free to live her life with a man controlling her. But then it turns out that he is actually alive, and after seeing him walk through the door she dies from shock. This story is an example of Situational Irony and Dramatic Irony, and this essay will explain it.

In “Story of an hour” Kate Chopin talked about marriage in a way that is not normally discussed. Mrs. mallard showed exhilaration for her husband’s death because she finally will be free yet when she found out that Brently was still alive the thought of having to suffer was too much for her and she died. The disappointment for him being alive is what killed her. The talk of marriage oppression during this time- period was not exclusive or talked about during that era.

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

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