Story of An Hour

Written in 1894 “Story of An Hour”, describes a time period when women really had less power or say in everything. Women stayed home, watched after the family, and attended the house chores, while the husbands worked away from home. Women opinions’ were to be heard or considered in rare circumstances. Although women experienced desires and feelings, they were not allowed to speak of them. Chopin through this narrative presents major themes among theme identity & selfhood and role of women, which gives the audience a very clear picture of the 19^th century activities.

Identity and Selfhood
Chopin presents issues of feminine self-invention and identity in the narrative “The Story of an Hour.” Once Mrs. Mallard heeds to her spouse’s demise, she is at first conquered by anguish, “she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance”. This signifies the representation of a rich and solemn matter that her husband’s demise brings sorrow and freedom at the same time. However, rapidly she starts feeling a formerly unidentified sense of autonomy and reprieve. In the beginning, she is terrified of the personal realization: “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully.”  (Chopin 2).

Mrs. Mallard after hearing the sad news, “She went away to her room alone” , “there stood, facing the open window”, she acquires “new spring life”, “air”, “songs” , “blue sky” , these elements signify a fresh life is approaching. Similar to numerous customary women during the 19^th century, Mrs. Mallard’s spouse cares for her; nevertheless, the husband inflicts his individual will towards her. Starting now on, she starts to live her personal life. “Free, free, free” , indicates she truly wants independence from her spouse. Her individual emotion comes upon her, overwhelming her. Once she utters the terms “free, free, free!” the author describes this situation as “abandoned herself.” However, after she utters these phrases, she feels relaxed and gains great power over her own self (Chopin 12).

When images life in absence her spouse, she clinches future visions. She accepts that if or not she cared for him currently it is less significant compared to “this possession of self-assertion” she currently experiences. “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome”. According to these “open” images, Mrs. Mallard embraces her personal life and takes pleasure in regulating it. To go more deep into identify and selfhood theme, Chopin establishes that “free! Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering”, “her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own”. Her thoughts jumped all the way to next spring’s summer, she sees herself living longer and ironically just yesterday she saw the spring being very far off.

The cheerfulness Louise acquires by the appreciation of selfhood is very sturdy such that, the instance she recognizes that her spouse is actually not dead, she instantly falls down. Louise cannot afford to discard her freshly acquired freedom and the comeback of life along with her spouse, where she could be obligated to twist her will towards his. The result is squat and speedy. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills”. Therefore, the audience can only recognize the genuine reason of her demise, as the end of a fresh birth of freedom along with disappointment despairs and not a heart disease (Chopin, and Langbehn 22). The disastrous finish of “The Story of an Hour” highlights the irony that solely by her husband’s demise, and consequently the demise of their marriage, may Louise acquire any life potentialities for herself

Women’s Role in Marriage.

 Mrs. Mallard reference in the initial parts of the narrative is a wife; incredibly little information is exposed regarding Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s affiliation. Still Louise is uncertain if or not they are gladly married: “And yet she had loved him — sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter?” Therefore, the particulars of the association matter a little compared to the institution of marriage. Louise is overjoyed once she recognizes that “there would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” If one is portraying love or not, the author seeks to make a remark on the nineteenth-century matrimony awarded one individual, the man, the privilege to possess and control the other, the woman (Chopin, and Ishtar 12).

“The Story of an Hour” depicts the functions of women in matrimony, and this mirrors the author’s own opinions on the troubles of women in the community with regard to their responsibilities in marriage. In this narrative, the woman acquires a remarkable autonomy when she receives news that her companion is deceased, and feels that she is lastly liberated from the responsibilities imposed on her. Certainly, the irony of it all was that it was a huge error and Mr. Mallard happened to be alive. This results to her collapse, as she propelled back towards her jail of expectations.

The writer is emphasizing to us that ladies had limited privileges during that era to decide their things in their lives. Mrs. Mallard, a woman, wanted privileges only accessible to the men folk. Every girl was required to move from her home and migrate to her spouse’s home, without any consent being sourced from her or views. That is the reason why Louise takes an instant to appreciate “this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will …” Mrs. Mallard attempts to brawl this bizarre feeling she is experiencing, however it is impossible, and as a result the terms “free, free, free” come out. Mrs. Mallard badly wanted out of a terrible matrimony; she hated being married since she desired to generate her own choices and spend her individual life in the ways she opted (Chopin 15). The audience can evidently witness that the reduced roles of women in society contributed to her sudden death

Chopin’s allegory of feminine self-assertion along with identity was misinterpreted and condemned during her times, however contemporary readers can locate vital messages from her narrative. Certainly, Mrs. Mallard lost her life for the reason that her community could not allow that a wedded woman to possess a self-exterior role as a wife. An equivalent state of affairs brought misfortune to numerous women during the nineteenth century, therefore, and “The Story of an Hour” up to now carries an imperative caution for women in the present day: discover yourself prior to your marrying.

Works Cited

Chopin, K, and Ishtar. Kate Chopin’s “The story of an hour”. Patterson, N.Y: ISHTAR, 1982. Print.

Chopin, K, and M. Langbehn. The story of an hour. Spokane, WA: Books in Motion, 1991. Print. Chopin, K. (1894). “The Story of an Hour”.