What Is Kate Chopin's View Of Marriage

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is more than a grieving widow experiencing euphoria and finding her sense of self; it’s a statement of how a woman’s value and independence was worth during the 19th century. A wife was few more than a trophy for their husbands to showcase towards his fellow compatriots with children and homemaking skills being her only noteworthy talents. The life and death of Louise Mallard shed light on marriage being equivalent to surrendering one’s identity as an individual. The introduction of Mrs. Mallard described her as a meek young woman with a weak heart. Upon being told the news, she grieved loudly over her husband’s sudden death as if she had forgotten how coddling he was. While Mr. Mallard loved his wife dearly, …show more content…
Louise Mallard was one of the many heroines Chopin wrote about who are led to dilemmas, strife, tragedy and rarely death when faced with self-awakening. The pain of a woman being unable to fight for that right of independence proves that Kate Chopin was ahead of her time in her writing. Sadly, she broke the status quo and was seldomly heard from until the 1960s feminism wave. At last, she had become recognized as an author post-humously, a cult classic and figurehead for the movement due to her depiction and subversion of the typical housewife. Xuemei describes “Louise Mallard was among that kind of women who were different from the traditional ones such as her sister. Facing the unexpectedly bad news, she was of course sad, however at the same time she felt free, body and soul free. Her sister Josephine reminded us of her conventional thought that women should attach themselves to their husbands” (167). To her loved ones, Louise Mallard’s death was a depressing case of irony as was her independence to herself. However, in death she managed to find a way to escape her bondage and begin life anew, free from the clutches of 19th century societal