Story Of An Hour And Oppression Essay

It is clear to the readers that she loved her husband, but since her husband has passed, she longed for the freedom she never had before. After a while, Mrs. Mallard began to feel joyful because of her husband’s death. In this essay I will be analyzing this text through feminist lens. “The Story of an Hour” relates to gender roles, the lack of freedom and identity of women in the 1800s male-dominated society, and how the time period in which this story was written gives insight on why Mrs. Mallard feels the way she did when she finds out her husband has

The other characters in the story saw Mrs. Mallard’s death as she how she couldn’t control the joy she had when she saw that her husband was still alive. For Mrs. Mallard it was better to live an hour of happiness and freedom than to live in the shadow of her husband. Mrs. Mallard joy and freedom had now been taken away from her in a matter of an hour. People will say Mrs. Mallard died happy because she got the freedom she always wanted right before she passed away. Many women in that era would have loved to experience the joy and freedom that came from not being in the shadow of their husbands, but being equal with them.

“The Story of an Hour”, created by Kate Chopin, is a short story that shows the emotions of a new-found widow in a time where women’s rights aren’t as they are today. The story starts off by introducing Mrs. Mallard as only a woman with great heart trouble who needs to be taken care of as she is presented with the news of her, supposedly, dead husband. She later finds that the death of her husband transformed from heartache to freedom and becomes spontaneously overjoyed. According to the way it was written, two themes could be drawn from this short story. One main theme that could be drawn from the story was the “Role of women during marriage”.

The Journey of Self Identity in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” In Kate Chopin 's “The Story of an Hour” she tells the tale of a woman in the nineteenth century dealing with an internal battle after hearing the news that her husband has died in an accident. During that time period, women were never their own identity, going from being a daughter to being a wife, they had no time for self-exploration and were always inferior to a man. Women were told their purpose was to take care of their husband, tend to his needs and have children. Chopin creates a very brief story to compare relational identity to self-identity, and by doing so, exposes women who have not developed a sense of self that is separate and stable and do not know how to “There would be no one to live for her… She would live for herself” (Chopin 67). To emphasize the importance of independence and identity, Chopin changes the protagonist’s name from

Taylor Mill argued that there should be no laws over marriage and that women should retain all rights to their children in case of divorce. She wrote the highly influential essay titled Enfranchisement of Women she argues that Women and Men should generally be considered as equal, this seems like a generally obvious statement compared to the ones from bell hooks, but this was the early 1800’s a time when feminism was just developing as an ideology .Her ideas were significantly more radical than those of most feminist at the time and even more radical than those of her husband. This perhaps due to her background of a relatively middle to high class women. Bell hooks would argue that she could develop these radical ideas because she could hide behind the success of her

In the 1890s, Kate Chopin wrote the short story “The Story of an Hour” which brings the truth about women at that time and were considered scandals to the readers. The story “The Story of an Hour” speaking of a woman named Louise Mallard who did feel of joy and freedom after her husband died. Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble and was being good care from her sister, Josephine. Since Mrs.Mallard heard about her husband’s death to when she is killed from knowing that her husband, Brently, still alive is happen within an hour.The doctor said she died “of the joy that kills” (Chopin). Kate Chopin uses the death to

The “Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin, is a short story that centers around Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard’s character changes from learning that her husband is dead to finding out that he is actually alive. In the beginning Mrs. Mallard is described as a faint-hearted wife so the news of her husband’s death had to be given gently. Mrs. Mallard did not experience the news with a “paralyzed inability to accept its significance,” rather she sobs dramatically. Her reaction displays her sensitive character.

In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of An Hour,” Chopin criticizes the subjugation of women from their husbands in the late 19th century. She tells of a woman, Louise Mallard, who had just heard news that her husband had died in a railroad accident. It initially started out with Louise heavily grieving the death of her husband and being exceedingly saddened by the fact. Indications of the anguish Louise was going through was described as “...young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes…” However; when she realized her husband will be gone forever, she quickly became ecstatic and understood that she can finally live for herself and not him.

Chopin’s View Towards Marriage Kate Chopin wrote “The Story of An Hour” to portray how it felt to be a married woman during the late nineteenth century. In the late nineteenth century women did not have as many rights or as much freedom as we do know, they were more likely to marry someone than to stay single. Although, Chopin projects through the main character in the story, why being a married woman is like being an imprisoned woman. Through the story, Chopin reveals her feelings and thoughts of not being married. The story begins with Mrs. Mallard or the main character receiving the bad news from her sister that her husband just died because of a railroad disaster.

The Contrast of The Story of an Hour While Mrs. Mallard is just starting a new life, so to say, for herself, her life she has known comes to an end. She is just able to become “free, free, free!” (57) when she loses her life. Kate Chopin uses contrast with the news Richard’s gave, the way Mrs. Mallard felt in the room and the doctor’s news to show how women perceived marriage in the 19th century in her story The Story of an Hour. When Richard’s heard the news of her husband’s death, he assumed Mrs. Mallard would be devastated. While everyone knew Mrs. Mallard was “afflicted with heart trouble” (57), him and her sister, Josephine, wanted to give her the news with “great care” (57).

The tone switches from mournful to joyful and back to mournful. In the beginning Mrs. Mallard finds out about her husband’s death, weeps over it, and isolates to her room to mourn. In her room she realizes she is finally a free woman and gets this overbearing feeling of joy. At the end of the story she realizes the story was false and her husband is alive. She ends up dying of “joy that kills”, and leaves her husband