How Does Kate Chopin Present The Theme Of Female Identity

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.

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 example toward the end, we get the quote “And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering”(Chopin,16).The Audience gets to see her her true emotions to her husband's death.In this quote we get to see inside her mind and how she now realizes that she is free ,that her marriage was restricting that now because her husband is dead she is now her own person.That is why she has a positive reaction ,she is happy because she is free not because her husband is dead, but what she gets because her husband is dead.Living in that society she was basically under her husband not only that but during that time we can say that she got married young making losing her freedom young,but now after so many years she is her own person her soul and body is literally

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.

In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, She creates the character of Mrs. Mallard as an unusual, fragile lady to create a story of hardships and lack of freedom. Mrs. Mallard faced constraint with her husband, but when she heard the news of her husband's death she, at first, felt a sense of remorse and sadness then a feeling of freedom. A reader may view Mrs. Mallard as insensitive for not feeling the loss of her husband, but the full context of the story is not given. Chopin uses the character, Mrs. Mallard, to display the relief of personal burden and freedom.

By presenting an autonomous female character who explores her womanhood and expresses her individuality, Chopin brings about tension, especially amongst Victorian women, and most definitely, their husbands. A character like Edna, who did not comply with society’s expectations, brought women to analyze what they believed in, which led to the realization that there was more to life than simply being a housewife, which made this character’s ideals seem of a rebellious nature. Women came to the realization that just like Edna, their place in society was more than simply being domestic servants out of the obligation of marriage. These social taboos caused quite a bit of heat during the Victorian era, where feminist ideas were barely starting to spread amongst the middle and upper class, and while most women’s lives were still quite restrictive and centered around their family, ideals were actually starting to change. This was just the beginning to the first wave of

We can't choose our gender by ourselves when we were born into the world. The whole society has already created a set of gender categories which can consider as the foundation of social identity. In the late of 19 century and the beginning of 20 century, "How does the role of gender shape the gender identity?" can be a question of that period. The answer to this issue can be easily found in these texts: Kate Chopin's "The Awakening"(1899), It shows how Edna falls into the struggle of the battle of man, society and herself to get freedom. H.D.'s "Leda"(1919)

A Woman Far Ahead of Her Time, by Ann Bail Howard, discusses the nature of the female characters in Kate Chopin’s novel’s and short stories. Howard suggests that the women in Chopin’s stories are longing for independence and feel torn between the feminine duties of a married woman and the freedom associated with self-reliance. Howard’s view is correct to a point, but Chopin’s female characters can be viewed as more radically feminist than Howard realizes. Rather than simply being torn between independent and dependant versions of her personality, “The Story of an Hour’s” Mrs. Mallard actually rejoices in her newfound freedom, and, in the culmination of the story, the position of the woman

Kate Chopin is the author of many short-stories and novels. Her short story, “The Story of an Hour,” is about a woman named Mrs. Louise Mallard with a fragile heart that suddenly and unexpectedly loses her husband in a train accident. Throughout the story, Mrs. Mallard learns to embrace the accident because for her it meant she finally obtained freedom from her demanding life that she has been wanting to break away from. Freedom and independence is one of the themes of “The Story of an Hour” and appears in the story when Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband is in a train accident, when she secludes herself from everyone in her room, and when she learns that her husband is actually alive.

I think that three major points that Chopin seems to make about women during her time in her novel are: society believes a woman should stay home and be a home maker, a woman should not be overly sexual, and put her family above herself.

Themes of Female Identity and Discovery Kate Chopin presents themes of female identity and discovery in the short story “Story of an Hour” by using figurative language. At the beginning of the story Mrs.Mallard was destroyed and heartbroke when she found out her husband died in a train accident. Mid way she starts to realize what this means about her life and what to come of it that since he is gone she is a widow meaning that she now has an identity/a say in this community at this women were based off their husband. At the end when Mrs. Mallard found her husband was alive she was shocked so hard that she died right there at the door.     How does Kate Chopin show that women need an identity outside of their husband.

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

In the early 19th century the men of society were dominant, they were considered the caregivers and are responsible for the actions of their women. When a woman would get into trouble they would be sent to their husband or father to be punished. Kate Chopin unlike many women did not have a male figure in her life. As an author she still had to prove herself to society that she was a good writer. Most female writers of that century wrote under a male name so they could be published, Kate Chopin wanted to be known for her work. Mrs. Mallard searches for freedom within her life. She feels trapped in her marriage, and her husband's death is her ticket to freedom. Kate Chopin shows Mrs. Mallard’s desire for freedom through the use of irony.

The story of an hour by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to her husband’s death. In this short story, Chopin portrays the complexity of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she is saddened yet joyful of her loss. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” argues that an individual discover their self-identity only after being freed from confinement. The story also argues that freedom is a very powerful force that affects mental or emotional state of a person. The story finally argues that only through death can one be finally freed.