The theme of this story is one of personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself while being a part of something else, like a marriage. During the book Mrs. Mallard was in a mixed emotions with her hearing about her husband dying and her being emotional about it, her telling herself that she is finally free and then finding out he was alive when he walked through the door. In "The Story of an Hour" the central idea would be when she posits the idea that a woman's life may actually be better without a husband. It was a radical idea at the time. In the older days it was assumed that women were the lesser sex and that men needed to make the important decisions in a family.
When someone loses an important person in their life they wind up with something or someone different to fill the void. At the beginning of the story the female protagonist had just lost her husband from sickness. After the death of the husband the woman is sent to the institution to be reprogrammed in order to forget and be ready for a new life again. When she first enters the institution she is given a picture of a man she does not know to replace her picture of her partner that was taken away. As the story unfolds, she spends more time in the widow shelter she learns more about how to be an even better housewife for her next partner.
I expected Calixta to be guilty after her affair, or to act uneasy around her husband, but instead she seems jubilant, giving her husband a, “...smacking kiss on the cheek that resounded” (547). She seems as though she is rejuvenated, ready to fulfill the task of being a mother and a wife. It is as though through fulfilling a need of hers, she can fulfill the needs of her family. Even Alcee takes time to write to his wife, Clarisse. The author even describes that he misses his wife and children.
In the story which took place in the 1800s, Louise, known for having heart trouble, believes her husband has passed away and is relieved with her newly found freedom in secret. However, once she finds out that her husband is alive, Louise passes away from the shock of having her freedom stripped as fast as it was given to her. Louise’s feeling of being trapped within herself was a thought that had been in her head for a while. This was apparent by the quote where Chopin says, “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (202). The story was set in a time where women’s rights in marriage were very limited.
When she found out that Mr. Mallard was dead, she felt free from the male abuse that she had been a setback of since the day she and her Mr. Mallard were married. Marriage, in the story of an hour, it appears to be the husband having total control over their wife. It also appears like Mrs. Louise Mallard thought that she wasn’t even permitted to have her personal opinions which was possibly true. To impeach your husband at this period intended that you had been being an out of control spouse. In my opinion, Mrs. Louise mallard realizes that she has been living her existence via boundaries caused from being
Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” seems to explain and analyze how the relationship works in the bondage of marriage. Chopin illustrates that Mrs. Mallard’s emotion towards self assertion is very important for women who live under their husbands’ hands. Not everyone marries to separate. Some get freedom after marriage by simply taking divorce. In India, women fast for the safety and longevity of their husbands.
Chopin reflects herself in her protagonist as she is an independent woman seeking for freedom. Indeed, the supposed death of Louise’s husband engenders an ephemeral and unconfessed feeling of freedom; also, hints from the author related to this feeling are found in the text, either symbols or motifs; finally, Chopin highlights this sentiment through different writing style. The supposed death of Louise’s husband engenders an ephemeral and unconfessed feeling of freedom. Firstly, beyond Louise’s sadness lies a strong hope of revival. This hope will last during one hour, until she learns her husband is alive.
While reading I could feel the emotional happiness Mrs. Mallard felt when she believed she was free after finding out her husband had died. “Free” “Body and soul free!” she kept whispering. To engage in simulation, one must see what the characters see, hear what they hear, that is, experience what they experience (Johnson, Cushman, Borden, McCune 2013). After reading her reaction it made me wonder what kind of man her husband had
Ananda who had just begun relaxing in marriage required ample time to be first comfortable with his partner and had to hide his sexual difficulty to Nina. Nina did not stop though discouraged by Ananda but went ahead fixing an appointment with a gynaecologist and was subjected Pap smear test and vaginal examination and returned home embarrassed and depressed because she had
We can deduce from this that she likes being apart from her family when she has the opportunity, and when she finishes school she would have to stay with them. We start to see how distant her relationship with her family really is when her father’s chauffeur picks her up from her boarding school. As Adeline runs downstairs ‘as in a nightmare’, we remark that she doesn 't go home unless someone has died. This shows the readers that she goes home and sees her family only in the occurrence of a death in the family. As Adeline journeys home, it is apparent that she has not seen her family in a while, as she does not recognize the ‘elegant villa’ where her family now abodes.