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Story Of An Hour Self Identity Essay

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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 …show more content…

Relational identity, loosely defined as defininging ones self in their relationships with others, can still be seen as a problem today relationships. If and when a person gives a part of themself to another, they are simultaneously losing a part of their individual identity. Just because this is no longer the nineteenth century does not mean women no longer feel the way Choplin explains Louise is feeling. Some women cannot find out how to leave their own Mrs. Mallard and become a Louise. Mrs. Mallard possibly never would have found her true self if she had not been told her husband had died. She was faced with “possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being” and she was ready to live a life where she was in control, even if that meant no longer having love “And yet she loved him- sometimes. Often she had

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