Treatment Of Women In The Story Of An Hour

After Louise Mallard received the news of her husbands death from her sister and husband's friend, Richards, a new beginning was about to be embarked upon. She was upset about the news she took herself to her room where she demanded privacy. As Chopin pointed out "She would have no one follow." (138) It was at that moment she sat down to look outside her

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism is a major part of the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, which is a story that portrays women’s lack of freedom in the1800s. Women had no rights, and had to cater to all of their husband’s needs. The main character in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman who suffers from heart trouble, named Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard was told about her husband’s death, she was initially emotional, but because of her husband’s death she reaped freedom and became swept away with joy. The story is ironic because Mrs. Mallard learns her husband was not dead, and instead of exulting

     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”.

The short stories, “The Story of An Hour”, by Kate Chopin and “The Jury of Her Peers”, by Susan Glaspell compare two married women who live under the shadow of their husbands. Both of these stories were written in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries during the time when women were treated unequally. Women had limited rights. For example, they could not vote, voice their opinion or work outside the home. Glaspell and Chopin were considered feminist writers who focus their writing on the struggle of women during the time when the Women’s Suffrage Movement was beginning; these short stories reflect women’s struggles under the control of men. Married women were responsible for taking care of the household, children and wifely duties while the husbands were responsible for consistently managing the title of “the breadwinner.” Married women were expected to be discreet and obedient to their husbands, which meant that the wives could not express their opinions because of society’s expectations of women. In the short stories, “The Story of An Hour”, by Kate Chopin and “The Jury of Her Peers”, by Susan Glaspell, Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Wright share a prominent similarity concerning the loss of their individual identity during marriage and realize that the death of their husbands allow them to regain their self-identity.-

The 1800s served as a turning point for the role of women in society. Nearing the end of the century, the idea that women should not work outside the home began to be challenged, and women started to hold jobs of their own (Fischer et al., 2000). Great opportunity was given to unmarried women, as they gained independence in living apart from their families (Fischer et al., 2000). Women began to fight for their independence, opposing the idea of only being known as a housewife. Kate Chopin was among the individuals who challenged what the role of women in society was during the late 1800s. Chopin shares her perspective in her two short stories, “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm.” In “The Story of an Hour,” the main

Women's struggle for equality in the 1800’s was a long and hard-fought battle. Women were the continual victims of discrimination in this era of time. The ideal woman was submissive; her job was to be a meek, obedient, loving wife who was totally subservient to the men around her. Mrs. Mallard is a woman who has been held the standard of an eighteenth-century wife with little to no freedom. In the short story, “Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin the woman gets set free from her husband, she realizes how she has been locked up from the free world.

After years and years of being chained in shackles of oppression, women finally began to speak up for themselves, against society, men, and anything else that has been withholding them from what they could be. While prominent names such as Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and the Grimke sisters ring a bell for women rights activism, one of the most notorious women activists is one no other than Kate Chopin. In one of her famous writings, The Story of an Hour, Choplin depicts an often unheard of perspective of marriage at the time. In this short story, Mrs. Louise Mallard, the protagonist, undergoes a sudden exhilaration of liberty and happiness opposed to grief and desolation when she hears the news that her husband, Brently Mallard, has tragically

First of all, the story was little difficult to understand. The first impression of tone in the story was sadness and shocked but it was also a mysterious. For example, the first name of the main character, Mrs. Mallard, is not mentioned until towards the end of the story when her sister, Josephine, was begging her sister to open the door. “Louise, open the door! I beg, open the door – you will make yourself ill. What are you doing Louise?” (170). The first name is a mystery till the end of the story because Chopin wants to emphasize her characteristic as a weak housewife and the exciting moment when she is alone in her room. The most mysterious moment, the biggest one of the story, was what is it that really killed Mrs. Mallard? Was it a heart attack from joy of seeing her husband alive? Or was she horribly disappointed of not being free?

In the 1800’s men were treated differently than women, men were treated with more rights while women were not. Most men believed that women shouldnt be involved in politics or work outside their houses. “Women should not vote, or work outside the home, or be involved in politics.” Many people believed that the “women's world” was too soft and emotional compared to the “men's world”. Men had more respect than the women. Women felt more trapped. For instance, in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the dynamic character, Mrs. Mallard, found out her husband dies. She was sad for a brief period of time but once she realized she was “free” she was overwhelmed with joy. Mrs. Mallard changed since the beginning of the story. She started feeling trapped

In this scene Louise Mallard locks herself in her room after hearing the news about her deceased husband. She is staring at the window, and Chopin tells the readers that when she looks at the window she isn’t looking at her reflection in it but looking beyond it. Chopin is telling us that Mrs. Mallard was not looking at herself being devastated in her reflection in the window, but she was looking past that, into the patches of the sky because that “intelligent thought” is now that her husband is gone she has nothing holding her back from doing something for only herself. Chopin uses imagery to show the readers Louise Mallard’s perspective on how free she is from the weight of her

Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour is a great story that conveys an important message about life and how difficult it can be for women, particularly in previous centuries. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when this story was written, women were quite often mistreated and had to live restricted lives that lacked opportunity. Generally, women weren?t liberated during the 19th century. Traditionally, women did all the hard work in the house and had no opportunities to make their own living or pursue their own personal dreams. Kate Chopin does an outstanding job of portraying a woman living in these times. The Story of an Hour is a good depiction of the unspoken repression that women faced in the past. Kate Chopin's major theme of the

For years women have been doubted for not having good work ethic that is impactful towards society. Women were just a figure in their companions’ lives whose purpose was to take care of the home and children. The men were expected to work in society and provide for the family. In William Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily and Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” there are Comparisons and Contrast in the way that the authors end their stories in death; both women react differently to death: one is happy the other isn’t. This subject by subject point of view will provide and outlook on how the stories portray to the society they are living in. Nonetheless, question; why women weren’t a dependent for male duties that need to be done? Why did women

In the early 1900s, it was very common for a woman to feel as though she is living a “confined” lifestyle. The stories “A Jury of Her Peers,” “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and “The Story of an Hour” include examples of women during this time who feel as though they are trapped. The lifestyle of women in the early 1900s still remains an important topic today. Susan Glaspell, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Kate Chopin wrote short stories depicting the unhappy lifestyle of a woman in three different scenarios. The stories may have different plots, but they are all similar in the representation of women in a figurative confinement in the 1900s. There is one specific room in each story that each woman feels trapped or free.

Mrs. Mallard suffers from a heart condition; thus, her sister Josephine gently and carefully breaks the news of Mr. Mallard’s death. Richards, a close friend of Mr. Mallard, is the first to discover the news of Mr. Mallard’s railroad tragedy. When hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard collapses in grief into her sister’s arms and retreats upstairs into her room. While her sister begs Mrs. Mallard to open the door, Mrs. Mallard reflects on her feelings. She sinks into an armchair facing an open window noticing the “new spring life, the delicious breath of rain in the air, the peddler in the street crying his ware, the notes of a distant song which someone was singing and countless sparrows twittering in the eaves” (Chopin 556). This signifies a new blossoming life: a life that she would live for herself. Although her husband is loving, and she knows that she will weep again when she sees his dead body, she realizes how confined marriage is for her. Robert Evans, author of “Literary Contexts in Short Stories: Kate Chopin's “‘The Story of an Hour,’” claims that Mrs. Mallard looks forward to a bright future rather than a dreadful life. She becomes aware that she must live alone rather than being imprisoned by marriage. As these thoughts circulate in her mind, she keeps whispering, “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 557).By conveying the story through Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, Chopin portrays how women actually feel compared to what they present in society. While Josephine and society expect Mrs. Mallard to be grieving, Mrs. Mallard is actually looking forward to the days ahead of her: “Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin 557). When Mrs. Mallard discovers that the news of her husband’s death was inaccurate, Mrs. Mallard dies from a heart attack after seeing her husband alive. The

Paulina Wright Davis, a women’s rights reformer in the nineteenth century, once said “we believe that a woman’s enforced inferiority in the marriage relation, not only wrongs her out of the best uses of her existence, but also cheats her master of the richest and noblest blessings of the nuptial union” (qtd. in Wayne, “Women Reformers”). This is what women, like Mrs. Mallard, dealt with during their lifetime. Much of what happened during this period of time paved the way for the freedoms women have today. “The Story of an Hour” shows the impacts that these injustices had on the women in the nineteenth century.