Story Of An Hour Women

In the short story “The Story of a Hour”, author Kate Chopin tells the story of a married women in the 1800’s who struggles with the reality that her husbands is deceased and now she is finally free. The story follows the narrator as she copes with the fact she is no longer her husband’s chattel. According to Historical Brief “Lives of the Women in the 1800’s”, Kelley Smith informs us that, “women’s sole purpose in life is to find a husband, reproduce and then spend the rest of their lives serving him. If a woman were to decide to remain single, she would be ridiculed and pitied by the community (Smith).” Kelley goes on to say, “Marriage for these women was a lifetime commitment. Very rarely were women allowed to have a divorce and until 1891 …show more content…
“Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to posses her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will— as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been ( Chopin 477).” In solitary,in spite of , Louise begins to realize that she is now an independent woman, a realization that enlivens and excites her. Even though these are her private thoughts, she at first tries to squelch the joy she feels, to “beat it back with her will.” “She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!”(Chopin 477).” Such resistance reveals how forbidden this self-indulgence really is. When she finally does acquiesce with the joy, she feels enthralled by it and must abandon herself to it as the word free escapes her lips. Louise’s life offers no harborage for this kind of joy, and the rest of general public will never accept it or understand it. Extreme worldly goods have given Louise a taste of this verboten fruit, and her thoughts are, in turn, consummate. She sees her life as being absolutely hers and her new self-sufficiency as the core of her …show more content…
“ Some one was opening the the front door with a latchkey. It was Bentley Mallard who entered, a little travel- stained, composedly carrying his grip - sack and umbrella (Chopin 477).” When Brently returns, he unintentionally yanks Louise’s independence away from her, putting it once again out of her reach. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease— of joy that kills (Chopin 477).” The forbidden joy disappears as quickly as it came, but the taste of it is enough to kill her. This last phrase is purposefully ironic, as Louise must have felt both joy and extreme miscalculation at Brently's return, regaining her husband and all of the loss of freedom her marriage necessitate.We know that she had a weak heart--it was explained that the train accident was explained carefully in order to prevent an adverse reaction--and the doctors assume that she died at his sight from the “joy” of seeing him. “The joy that kills” they called it (Chopin 477). Those doctors, undoubtedly men, were unwittingly describing Louise’s marriage as well. Chopin gives the reader a broader spectrum on what is was like to be a married women in the 1800’s. What I took from this story is that women are slaves in their own marriage. The reason I choose this story was, because of the historical context and what you can learn from it. First history is my favorite subject so combining