Oppressiveness of Marriage
Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums” and Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” show their reader two women stifled in the lives they lead. Specifically, the institution of marriage has left them feeling oppressed in irrevocable ways. In each story, the woman is presented with a moment of release, only to have it dashed shortly thereafter. While “The Chrysanthemums” features a smaller moment, “The Story of an Hour” allows the reader to examine how this oppression can affect a woman when taken to its extreme. Both stories offer a view of how the institution of marriage can lead to oppression in ways that are not always obvious. Both “The Chrysanthemums” and “The Story of an Hour” begin with protagonists clearly suffering from the oppression they feel in their marriage. It is the boredom and lack of purpose that both feel which drive them to their unhappiness. To start, Steinbeck’s Elisa Allen, is shown caring for flowers as her husband works. She has a talent with them and is given the chance to foster that talent, though she seems to no longer find it rewarding. The author wrote, “The chrysanthemum stems seemed too small and easy for her energy” (Steinbeck). Elisa has drive and determination with no rewarding outlet, which leads to her frustration. Chopin’s Mrs. Mallard suffers from oppression too, though the reader is given less information about her. Her condition is more acute her health affected in ways Elisa’s is not. Mrs. Mallard is
Some people believe that once they marry they are giving up their freedom. In some cases, this is true, especially in the late 19th century. Woman during this period were marrying as young as 15 years old and were marrying men well into their 30s. This caused a lack of communication and love between a married couple and usually resulted in the man having control over the woman. The idea of men having control over women in marriage can be seen in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” In this short story, Louise Mallard learns of her husband’s death due to a fatal train accident. Sad and alone at first, Mrs. Mallard sits in her room contemplating how she will live now that her husband is gone. Soon her emotions are flipped and Mrs. Mallard
Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour” and Gail Godwin’s “A Sorrowful Woman” are similar pieces of literary work. Both stories offer a revealing glimpse of extremely unhappy marriages due to being forced into stereotypical roles. Both stories portray women, who are trapped in their marriages and trapped in their socially expected matriarchal characters. They are identified by their role as a wife and mother.
In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author depicts how someone can be trapped in an unproductive and unsatisfying reality because of other’s thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. When combined with the contemporary society’s belief, presumably the later half of the 19th century, a further understanding of Chopin’s thoughts and feelings can be realized. Mrs. Louise Mallard, the victim and messenger of this story, is the image of such a person. Her relationship with her husband is so oppressive and limiting that even death is considered a reasonable means of escape. The condition of life for Mrs. Mallard is terrible, yet for some reason she doesn’t seem to come to the full
In ‘The Story of an Hour’ the struggles and hardships of women in day to day life are conveyed. In ‘The Story of an Hour’, Chopin implies that marriage, even when
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.
Commonly explored throughout her works, the idea of marriage inhibiting a woman’s freedom is the driving force behind Kate Chopin’s contextual objections to propriety. In particular, The Awakening and “The Story of an Hour” explore the lives of women seeking marital liberation and individuality. Mrs. Chopin, who was raised in a matriarchal household, expresses her opposition to the nineteenth century patriarchal society while using her personal experiences to exemplify her feminist views.
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.-
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” examine the complex relationship between a husband and wife. The two works take two different approaches to convey the same message: Marriage is not a fairytale, it requires sacrifice and unselfish behavior in order to work. Relationships are difficult to begin and harder to maintain. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and Aylmer and Georgiana are two relationships that shatter the surreal perception of marriage and expose readers to the raw truth, marriage is not a fairytale.
In “The Story of an Hour”, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and “Trifles”, the authors all question the institution of marriage through the emerging theme of the oppression of women. In each of these works, women are shown trapped in confining marriages. While marriage is supposed to be seen as one of the most beautiful and perfect sanctities life has to offer, these authors portray it as more of a bittersweet agony that women are forced to endure. Chopin, Gilman, and Glaspell use a combination of symbolism and perspective in their literature to bring about this theme of female oppression. With this theme, the authors cause the readers to take a more feminist perspective and question the institution of marriage through the eye of the average housewife of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Margarita Engle, a poet, and novelist, once said, “Marriage without love is just one more twisted form of slavery.” In the eighteenth century, marriage was the exit door of many women from their homes whether they believed in love and filled their hearts with hope, or had no choice, and they were sold to men as if they were cattle. In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin shows complex issues such as marriage, independence, symbols, and ironies. After hearing the news that Brently Mallard was dead in a railroad accident, Richards, Mr. Mallard’s friend, went to the house to be next to Mrs. Mallard and to help her at this difficult moment. Contrary to what everyone was worried about, Mrs. Mallard knew that she would lament her husband’s death, but she was full of hope, dreaming of her freedom, appreciating life beyond the window, and a new beginning. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s dreams faded when she went downstairs and her husband arrived alive, and she could not stand it and died. Focusing on The Story of an Hour, there are three main points related to women in the early eighteenth century, such as oppressive marriages, women’s new perspective and ways of liberation, and women’s submission and obedience that demonstrates how women survived, even though they were not heard.
Kate Chopin's "The Story Of an Hour" is a perfect example of social oppression that takes place in many marriages. "The Story of an Hour" shows that marriages no matter how much love can be an institution
Charlotte Gilman and Kate Chopin were contemporary authors who were a product of their times. They wrote during the abolitionist movement, during the times when the gender roles were clearly defined and where women were given their specific roles and given a space within which they were expected to live and perform their duties. Although they had their freedom, the women of that time, especially white women in the upper middle class society were not completely free. Their position in the society and standing in their social circles was entirely dependent on their husband and in a way they were trapped in their marriage, slaves to the customs of the time. Gilman in her work, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper” and Chopin in “the Story of an Hour” talk about this situation, the protagonists in their stories trapped in
The Chrysanthemums story is in a way similar to the Story of an Hour. In both stories, we find gender inequality. In these stories, both women feel limited and restricted because of their gender. Also, they are married, but they are not happy with their husbands. The women in both stories felt that the lack of agency keeps them submissive to their husband. This story shows how feminism has been a topic that concerns women since the earliest years.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, Louise Mallard is caught in a cold marriage and a constrictive house. The same goes for Sarah Penn in Mary Wilkins Freeman “The Revolt of “Mother.’” Despite the fact that both stories share the topics of imprisonment and control, physically and inwardly, the ladies in the stories have diverse responses to their circumstances. Sarah battles the confinements without holding back, taking her opportunity, while Mrs. Mallard adopts a motionless strategy and is just liberated through the death of Mr. Mallard.
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin describes an hour in the life of an oppressed woman bound by marriage in the nineteenth century. It is only when Mrs. Mallard’s husband dies in a sudden railroad accident that she realizes she is no longer tied together by the ropes of man. At first she is shocked and horrified by the tragedy, for she did say “she had loved him – sometimes” (Chopin). However, once the tears were wept, a new bountiful life of freedom was now in the eyes of Mrs. Mallard. Chopin uses imagery, third person omniscient point of view, and concepts of relief and joy in “The Story of an Hour” to convey the true feelings of Mrs. Mallard as she is freed from the strenuous and unjust oppression of women due to society’s expectation of gender roles.