In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the reader is seeing how Mrs. Mallard is reacting to the news of her husband’s death. By looking at this short story through a feminist lens, it is very clear that women during the 1800’s are undermined. We can see that women are undermined because while the men are at work, the wives are at home. One example from the story is when Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister, told her that her husband, Brently Mallard, was dead. Josephine broke this news to her sister in very broken sentences because she was breaking “to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death”. The relationship between men and women during the 1800’s is very broken compared to the relationship between men and women today.
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An example of patriarchy in this short story is when Josephine is helping her sister down the stairs at the end of the story. Her action of helping her sister is showing how they do not need men in their lives and that it is possible to be independent. The problem with the showing of sisterhood between Josephine and Mrs. Mallard is that it can very easily be broken and it was very easily broken. It was broken when the sisters were walking down the stairs and a very non-dead Mr. Mallard walks in the door. When Mr. Mallard walks in the door, Josephine screams and Richards jumps in front of Mr. Mallard to shield him from his …show more content…
Kate Chopin was a women who felt the need to stand up for and demonstrate women’s rights before the desire for women’s rights was even a thought. In this story, she tested the strength of marriage, showed the bond between sister and how sisterhood is a very important thing while also showing the very defining roles and relationships between men and women. Even though time has gone on and history has changed, this is one topic that has seemed to remain the same. In 2016, women are still undermined by their male counterparts and the many of the roles and relationships between men and women still
An example of patriarchy in this short story is when Josephine is helping her sister down the stairs at the end of the story. Her action of helping her sister is showing how they do not need men in their lives and that it is possible to be independent. The problem with the showing of sisterhood between Josephine and Mrs. Mallard is that it can very easily be broken and it was very easily broken. It was broken when the sisters were walking down the stairs and a very non-dead Mr. Mallard walks in the door. When Mr. Mallard walks in the door, Josephine screams and Richards jumps in front of Mr. Mallard to shield him from his …show more content…
Kate Chopin was a women who felt the need to stand up for and demonstrate women’s rights before the desire for women’s rights was even a thought. In this story, she tested the strength of marriage, showed the bond between sister and how sisterhood is a very important thing while also showing the very defining roles and relationships between men and women. Even though time has gone on and history has changed, this is one topic that has seemed to remain the same. In 2016, women are still undermined by their male counterparts and the many of the roles and relationships between men and women still