The Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour

This paper will be discussing how does research into the status of women in nineteenth century America illuminate my understanding of Kate Chopin's "the Story of an Hour" (Johnson, 122). From the beginning of the story we learn that Louise has some sort of a serious heart condition. Her troubled heart is mentioned because that was the reason behind why “great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death” (Chopin 66). Louise's husband, Brently, died in a railroad disaster, and of course any person even without a heart problem would have been extremely saddened by the news of a dearly loved one's death. Her sister Josephine knew about her condition and did all she can do to let her sister know as lightly and smoothly about her husband's death. In the 1800s, women were expected to play the role in life as a wife, mother and servant. It was not common for a woman to work outside of the home, and it definitely was not expected for her to formulate an independent life or thought of her own. The role of a wife to her husband was generally the role of being seen and not heard, do and feel as I say, not as I do, with-out question. In “The Story Of An Hour” “Chopin” has expressed in a very descriptive way on what it feels like to be liberated, to have freedom so close that you can see it in everything around you, hear it in the wind, and feel it in every fiber of your being. In my elucidation, “Chopin” brings about awareness and feeling to the women of her time, presenting that women were servants to a marriage that denies them their individuality and freedom. That ultimately a woman would rather welcome death than return to a patriarchal life.

In the beginning Mrs. Mallard hears the news of her husband being killed in a train crash from her sister and her husband's good friend Richards. It is here you can tell right away that she was feeling some sort of relief. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.”(3) A woman who was already secured with whom she was and with her role in a marriage most likely would have been unable to grasp so easily what she was told. Instead, she weeps for a brief moment and then heads to her room to be alone in thought and asked not to be followed. It is here where the feeling first reaches her. “There was something coming to her, and she was waiting for it, fearfully.”(9) In this sentence, you can tell that this woman has been oppressed for some time. This is a woman who is always directed on what to do and how to feel, and even after learning of her husband's death; it frightened her ...