A Short Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

Superior Essays
The Story of an Hour and Feminism
D01 龚理 1509853W-B011-0067 It was in a Chinese exam at high school that I first came across The Story Of an Hour written by Kate Chopin. I am so lucky to read the original edition in our literature class. It is an interesting story which has profound meaning and underlying theme that gives us food for thought. The short story describes the series of emotions Louise Mallard endures in one hour from hearing the death of her husband Brently to seeing her husband still alive. The author Kate Chopin is considered as a forerunner of feminist writers, who emphasized on lives of women and invested numerous concentration to the repression of women in a male-dominated society in late 19th century. Certainly, The Story
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A beautiful young woman married a rich and powerful man. It seemed that Mrs.Mallard should enjoy the marriage and love her husband deeply. Nevertheless, when knowing the death of her husband, she did cry and fall into sorrow. Later, she found some emotion strange and unusual occurring. As for a humble woman, the husband’s death could destroyed her, which differed from Mrs.Mallard. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.” Exactly, that implicit emotion was exciting. How could a woman feel excited when her husband died? It was the reason that her “new spring life” would begin soon. This marriage gave Mrs.Mallard so much restrictions and kept her away from freedom. “ She said it over and over under her breath:’Free, free, free!’” Being repressed for a long time, she desired freedom that she could do whatever she enjoyed instead of living under the shadow of her strong husband. The death of her husband was a chance for her to live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending her any more. Her emotion was taken up by the monstrous joy. Kate Chopin described this to show that women wanted to get rid of the repression and had the right to possess the precious freedom to live for herself, which can prove that feminism was the theme of this story and Kate Chopin was a feminist …show more content…
The text said “she had died of heart disease of joy that kills”, which is very ironic. Were Mrs.Mallard so happy that the heart couldn’t bear? Absolutely not. When she saw her husband entering the room again, she broke down. He should have died in an accident. His coming back destroyed all her dreams she had few seconds before. Everything changed in such a short time. It wasn’t the joy of seeing his husband alive that resulted in her death. Instead, the sudden despair swallowed her. The previous desire to get rid of the unfavorable marriage, to be free and to live for herself all shattered at that time. Her heart really couldn’t bear the conversion from happiness to desperation. It was obvious that the reason she died was the loss of everything she longed for. The pain that she couldn’t get freedom was so hurt that we can see how she treasured her own rights as a woman. That could reflect the spirit of feminist and be an evidence that Kate Chopin was a feminist author who tried to expose the will of women to the male-dominated society. Last, at the beginning of the story, the author used “Mrs.Mallard” to represent the main character. After describing the series of emotions she had, she kept whispering “Free! Body and soul free!” Then, her name became Louise. It was her own identity just like the realization of the feminist. The conversion of the different addresses showed that Kate used this subtle technique to prove herself

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