How Does Chopin Present The Women In The Story Of An Hour

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.

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is an immaculate illustration of how a short story can have the ability to make a considerable impact on an entire nation. Chopin manipulates her writing effectively with her outstanding applications of certain literary techniques. Moreover, these techniques such as pathos, irony and symbolism, amplify the intensity and overall impact women oppression had on Chopin and many other women during the late nineteenth century. In addition, the story overshadows the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, and her persevering fight to overcome the mournful news regarding the death of her husband. She was informed about her husband's death by her sister Josephine, who told her in a rather gentle fashion which ultimately caused Mrs. Mallard to go to the hospital with an unfortunate affliction of heart trouble. Initially, Mrs. Mallard rhapsodically struggled in trying to cope with this news as it left her in a paralyzed state of sorrow but she then realized that she gained a great deal of freedom due to to her husband's death. Furthermore, Chopin leaves out many details within her text, which obligates the reader to fill in the gaps within Chopin’s iceberg imagery like writing and gain a perception of women’s mistreatment during the mid 1800’s.

For the wife, Louise Mallard, this was an awakening of a new life. This new life is cut short as the information that led her to believe this news turns our false. Kate Chopin reveals that even the desire for love is trumped by the need for freedom and independence, through her use of precise diction and syntax, and symbolism. (rewrite)

Traditionally, women have been known as the less dominant sex. They have been stereotyped as being only housewives and bearers of the children. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men; society, in general; and within a woman herself. Kate Chopin‘s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, focus on a woman’s dilemma near the turn of the 19th century. Contradicting the “normal” or sad assumption of death, “The Story of an Hour” illustrates the significance of death representing freedom. The Story narrates about an hour of Louise Mallard’s life, as she tries to understand, and deal with her feelings of her husbands death.

‘The Story of an Hour’ and ‘Desiree’s Baby’ by Kate Chopin have many differences and similarities. Both stories are written by the same author, but both are very different from each other. Chopin shows even though that she writes many stories they all can be different and have a some similarity. The women in the story are the main characters who have the most differences and similarities. They each had marriage issues and each issue was solved in a very extreme way.

Kayla Burnett English 1302 Prof. Maharaj October 27, 2014 Essay 3 Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is a short story depicting an hour of Louise Millard’s life starting from the moment she was told of her husband’s death until her discovering her husband is in fact alive and well. In the story, the main character, Louise Millard, finds herself at the center of dealing with all of the emotions of death and her newly found independence in that particular hour of life. Chopin reveals the themes of “The Story of an Hour,” the oppression and lack of independence that married women in that day and age faced through the use of literary tools.

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour reflects the time in which a woman was forced to abide by the wishes of a man. From keeping the home in order to cater to his every want and need, she was degraded of her real potential, resulting in a hatred toward her spouse, the inability to speak and think freely for herself, and the a desire of independence. Throughout the text, Louise Mallard reveals that she is living in the repressive world of male dominance through her reaction to her husband’s “death” and re-arrival, her longing to be free from her current captivity, and her excitement of her new life as her own individual. The Story of an Hour beings with the acknowledgement of Mrs. Mallard’s heart disease and the depressing news of her “deceased” husband.

She sat in her room comfortable in a “roomy armchair” looking through the “open window”, listening to birds’ songs and contemplating the “new spring” and taking advantage of the delicious breath of the rain in the air. ”(415) Kate Chopin uses open window to symbolize the newly discovery life and fresh start that Mrs. Mallard believe she will have now that her husband is dead. She realizes that the “power that is bending” her is no more. This shows that her husband did dominated and mistreated her and now she is” free, free, and free” at

The short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin was published in the year 1894. Chopin tries to recreate in the story about the live in the late nineteenth century, and how this affected couples. The believes in this years is that the women must stayed home and serve to her husband. During the story, the author catch the reader attention by mention the conflict of emotions that occurred in the story. Beside this, there are a couple of several elements that the author use to maintain the reader’s attention. The main elements that the author emphasize are the conflict, symbolism, and irony. These three are presented along the story to refer about Louise Mallard, and any other women, that lived in the late nineteenth

In the two stories of Chopin, both, Louise in The Story of An Hour, and Desiree in Desiree’s Baby, are two women who are struggling in their marriages. Both loved their husbands, but one wanted freedom, and one was forced to freedom. Each woman 's outcome satisfied no one, not even the reader. In The Story of An Hour,

“The Story of An Hour” focuses on sixty minutes in the life of a young nineteenth-century woman, Mrs. Mallard. Upon learning of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard experiences an epiphany about her future without a husband. Her life, due to heart problems, suddenly ends after she unexpectedly finds out her husband is actually alive. Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the reader to cogitate a hidden meaning weaved into Kate‘s short story. Chopin had an idea that women felt confined in their marriages, and the idea is brought out through the protagonist’s initial reaction, excessive joy, and new perspective of the world following the upsetting news.

In the short story “The Story of an Hour,” the author Kate Chopin writes about a wife with heart trouble that loses her husband in a railroad disaster. The text tells us that the wife, Louise Mallard, has an internal conflict due to her unhappy marriage. There are many times the text reveals this internal conflict. There are many examples of symbolism throughout the story. After finding out her husband is dead, Louise goes up to her room alone.

By isolating herself from everyone, one can suggest Chopin has assigned a special meaning to the door. Here, the door can serve as the boundary between dream and reality. In other words, outside the door is reality and that means Louise needs to behave in accordance with her assigned gender roles, which Friedan strongly criticized in her theory of gender role. On the other hand, the room that Louise locks herself in is a symbol of her dream because she sees “patches of blue sky,” “trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life,” and feels the “delicious breath of rain” in the dream (Chopin 524). Based on Chopin’s usage on words such as “blue,” “spring,” and “delicious” to describe the beautiful scenery that Louise obtains from freedom, they symbolize Louise is ready to start her new chapter of life without her husband and enjoys the freedom that she has longed for throughout her marriage. Moreover, these words create energetic and delightful atmospheres, which Chopin prepares readers to believe the protagonist, Louise, will have a happy ending. In fact, when Louise leaves her room, it symbolizes she wakes up from her dream and she needs to face the reality that her husband is still alive. By creating such misalignment, Chopin proves that women can

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a short yet complex story, describing Mrs Mallard’s feelings. It focuses on the unfolding emotional state of Mrs Mallard after the news of her husbands death, and has overflowing symbolism and imagery. It is an impressive literary piece that touches the readers’ feelings and mind and allows the reader to have a connection to Mrs Mallard’s emotional process. Although the story is short, it is complete with each word carrying deep sense and meaning. It is written in the 19th century, a time that had highly restrictive gender roles that forbade women to live as they saw fit. Mrs Mallard experiences something not everyone during this time has the luck to have; the happiness of freedom that the reader only

Kate Chopin’s impressive literary piece, The Story of an Hour, encompasses the story of an hour of life, an hour of freedom. We must seize the day and live our lives to the fullest without any constraints. This very rich and complete short story carries a lot of meaning and touches a readers feelings as well as mind. Throughout this piece much symbolism is brought about, which only helps us to understand the meaning and success of Kate Chopin’s work. Kate allows her reader to think and allows us to understand the meaning of her story with the different uses of symbols such as heart troubles, the armchair, the open window, springtime, and the calm face and goddess of victory. We eventually realize little by little that Mrs. Mallard