Identity And Personal Expectations In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

The story, "The Story of an Hour," written by Kate Chopin, tells the reader that Mrs. Mallard, who is afflicted with a heart disease, is shattered by the news of her husband 's death. Then she walks to her room where we are confronted with a complete different personality of Mrs.Mallard, a personality which she concealed from her family and friends. On one hand, she tends to show herself as a person that is devastated by her husband 's death, therefore no one would judge her in society, and on the other hand, she 's tingled with happiness about something, such as relief from her husband. Moreover, Mrs. Mallard 's actions and the author 's words have informed the reader that one shouldn 't live for others and shouldn 't be out there impressing …show more content…
In the passage the author had stated, "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself," this had taught the reader or let 's say myself a meaning of life and how we should live for our self and do things without question from others because everyone else isn 't always happy to see you succeed and achieve a greater rank in life. All we need in life is to have happiness and succeed in every aspect and when we live for our self and do things we appreciate, we are able to create such an identity of ourselves with no issues. Thus, we exist to value our identity, existence, expectations, and goals, however, not to impress others. In conclusion, the short story, "The Story of an Hour" has brought up two meanings of dealing with life. It 's either to live with the societal expectations or the individual identity. However, in this story, Mrs. Mallard has clearly proven to the reader that individual identity overlooks the societal expectations and one should do whatever they prefer to, either construct their identity, value their existence, set goals, or set expectations, which may be done upfront or behind close doors, however shouldn 't be left