Story Of An Hour Conformity/Rebellion

Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour is a great story that conveys an important message about life and how difficult it can be for women, particularly in previous centuries. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when this story was written, women were quite often mistreated and had to live restricted lives that lacked opportunity. Generally, women weren?t liberated during the 19th century. Traditionally, women did all the hard work in the house and had no opportunities to make their own living or pursue their own personal dreams. Kate Chopin does an outstanding job of portraying a woman living in these times. The Story of an Hour is a good depiction of the unspoken repression that women faced in the past. Kate Chopin's major theme of the

As a result, the use of symbolism helped the illustration of independence as an essential piece to joy. Furthermore, after Mrs. Mallard’s husband, Brently Mallard, enters the house and revealing to everyone that he is not dead, Mrs. Mallard dies from the “joy that kills” (2). This suggests that Mrs. Mallard did not die from the “joy” of seeing her husband alive, but because of having the joy of independence that she had achieved when thinking that her husband had died taken away from her. Having her freedom separated from her caused her death because she had “opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (2), implying that she had accepted her new independence and now there is no going back. Along with this, earlier in the story she was contemplating the “blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (2) and compared this action to a “crime” (2), indicating that she frowns upon the acts of subjection and doesn’t desire for her husband to be alive as she had been oppressed by him.

Mallard begins to realize that she is free of her husband’s control. She kept whispering to herself that she was free and that her body and soul was free. She had realized that there would be many years to come where she would be free and she was happy to be a free woman. She had finally realized that there would be no one else to live for in her life except herself. There would be no powerful will binding herself.

Mrs. Mallard is emotionally unstable due to her low amount of freedom. Her emotional trouble is directly linked to her lack of freedom, which leads to

On the other hand, the open window that Mrs. Mallard looked out of was the representation of her freedom to starting a new life. She is was excited to see her freedom out the window she could smell,” the delicious breath of rain”(720). Which symbolic to the calming sensation knowing soon the sunshine will come. She officially had control of what she wanted in life so she felt as if, “Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own”(721). The spring is a representation of how beautiful change is and how warm weather brings happiness. Also, is a representation of new life that also comes out during the spring time. The window is providing Mrs. Mallard with a dream of her own her road to official independence.”There would be no one to live for her during those

She was the opportunity to be her own person and live her days her way. She had formerly dreaded the years ahead under her husband. But now, Mrs. Mallard is happier and looking forward to a bright and joyful future alone. However, her freedom is taken from her once when she sees her husband Brently still alive. Overwhelmed with devastation, he stops her racing heart from

The story unviels its theme at this point: Mrs. Mallard, for the first time in her life, experiences a new-found freedom. Instead of dreading the future without her husband, "she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely". She could now live her life and be absolutely free of the imposing will of her husband: There would be no one to live for her during the coming years; she would live for herself. There would be now powerful will bending hers in the blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.(15)

Mrs. Mallard feels tied down and trapped in her marriage. The lines of her face "bespoke repression" (paragraph 8). Once Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her husband's death, she knew that there will "be no powerful will bending her" (paragraph 14). There now would be no husband who believes he had the "right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature"

In paragraph eight, Chopin begins to use personification as well as imagery. Mrs Mallard “young, with a fair, calm face” (158) is sitting in the armchair with a “dull stare in her eyes” (158) which “indicated of intelligent thought” (158). Reading this, the reader can form an idea of what Mrs Mallard looks like, and we understand that there’s something going on in Mrs Mallards head, something changing everything in her mind. Mrs Mallard is still struggling to figure it out but “she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching towards her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air”. From this we understand that she is beginning to realise it, and her soul is beginning to fill with happiness of freedom, which is in all the sounds, smells and things she sees. For one moment, however, she is somewhat afraid of feeling happy about her freedom and “she was striving to beat it back with her will” (159). This shows that Mrs Mallard is a “product” of her time, and is striving to feel what is socially accepted. She realizes that society would determine her thoughts of freedom inappropriate, but she can’t stop herself from feeling that way.

When first reading Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour," one may not typically be surprised at its ending, write it off as one of those creepy "back from the dead" horror stories and forget about it. There is more to this story than simply horror. The author is making a very strong, however subtle, statement towards humanity and women's rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin shows how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a loving partnership.

The Mallard has wealth and power above that of the average person during this time period which ranks them higher in the society. The feminist lens could also be applied to understand the text. Mrs. Mallard felt free after she was relieved of the burden of a controlling husband in a patriarchal society. However, the Marxist lens is the better lens to use to analyze the text for the reason that it illustrates the short story in an unambiguous way. It views the events of the text as a product of the economy and society.

I think Mrs. Mallard felt trapped in her marriage, a marriage where communication no longer existed. I believe this caused her to feel very alone and restless in her marriage. In the late nineteenth century, women basically had little or no rights. It was thought that women’s sole purpose in society was to marry, have children, and to care for their family and household. Women of this era were not allowed to satisfy their own wants and desires. Therefore, we can assume that Mrs. Mallard got married at a young age. This fact, along with the crumbling of her marriage caused her to feel lost in a world where she knew not even herself. The fact that she was unable to experience life for herself resulted in her yearning desire for independence. These explanations contributed to Mrs. Mallard’s overwhelming enjoyment of her newfound freedom.

`The Story of an Hour' was written in the nineteenth century and during this time highly restrictive gender roles forbade women to live as they saw fit. Kate Chopin presents in her story,

Mallard starts to feel free and independent since her husband isn’t around the house anymore. She came to her consensus that there are positive things that are coming from this. In the story, Mrs. Mallard says “‘Free Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering” (15). The reader learns that Mrs. Mallard is now feeling like waves of freedom have washed over her, instead of gloomy ones. She realized that she is now not held back by anyone, as she was seemingly restricted by her husband to do things she had always dreamed of doing, by herself. Her body and soul are free, looking forward to fun days later on in her life. She could finally have the freedom and independence she had always wanted. A little further into the story, Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts are “Spring and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long” (18). This is another example of the author showing Mrs. Mallard’s independence and freedom. She is looking forward to free and independent spring and summer days in the future. She also makes a quick prayer that life might be long because she now wants to experience fun days with her two new traits. Mrs. Mallard wants her freedom and independence to be the longest it possibly can, up until she dies. Mrs. Mallard wants to experience her freedom and independence now since her husband has

Mrs. Mallard is faced with a internal conflict of freedom. The fact of being free scares her in a way because of the way society thinks the author describes that in this quote “ Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to posses her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will-as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.” This quote is basically saying that the thought of freedom is coming to her head and she is trying to stop it because society thinks that women should not be able to have freedom and that they should not be able to do what the men are able to do.