Social Norm In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

Authors criticize society by presenting characters who are somehow trapped or imprisoned. In The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, Louise Mallard is trapped in an unhappy marriage. After some initial sadness, Mrs. Mallard experiences a newfound sense of freedom when she is told that her husband has died in a railroad disaster. The story comments on the expectation of American women to pursue marriage and motherhood instead of seeking an education and a job in late 19th century American society. Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death shows a contradiction of an American norm during the 19th century. Women were expected to marry and be housewives while men got an education and a job to make money for the family. Chopin challenged this social norm by writing a story that featured a woman who believed herself to be free after her husband’s death broke ties to her future life as a housewife. Literary elements such as theme, character, point of view, and setting are used by Chopin to further develop this idea.
Mrs. Mallard, who suffered from heart disease, was informed by her sister, Josephine, and her husband’s friend Richards that Mr. Mallard had been killed in a …show more content…
The narrator has limited omniscience because Mrs. Mallard’s feelings and thoughts are described throughout the story. For example, the narrator describes her as “pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul” (Chopin) in the beginning of the story. This limited omniscience allows the story to unfold because it shows the reader Mrs. Mallard’s transformation from being held down by her husband to being upset over his death to feeling as though her body and soul had been freed. The reader is able to deduce the theme from Mrs. Mallard’s feelings and thoughts after losing her husband, which are much more positive than before she begins to feel