Fatal Self-Assertion In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

Annotated Bibliography

Berkove, Lawrence I. “Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’”. American Literary Realism 32.2 (2000): 152-158. Web.

Berkove claims that Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is about “heroine”, Louise Mallard, who’s not a hero. The view of her as a heroine is based on the interpretation of feminist. He argues there is no evidence to support the fact that Mrs. Mallard is repressed, nor that she had to sacrifice anything for her husband. Berkove analyzes the quote of Mrs. Mallard’s freedom and noted that when it came to love, Mrs. Mallard did not a significant amount of love towards her husband, but instead loved herself more. The wild abandonment that she experienced when realizing that she is “free” and will live “absolutely” for herself were indications that she is losing her mind because

She expresses the opinion of other critics who claim the notability of the story is because of the “twist ending”. Wolff argues a simple trick would not evoke such strong reactions from readers. “Desiree’s Baby” deals with the differences of skin pigmentation and Wolff analyzes that the main focus of the story is not the issue of slavery, but the influence of color in the lives of Armand and Desiree and what role color plays in the society. Wolff notes that Chopin made few references to skin pigmentation, but Armand is the only one whose “dark skin” is announced in the story. This gives a clue about the mystery that occurs throughout the story; the origin of the baby’s color. Wolff also suggests that Chopin made Desiree and Armand’s love opposite from one another to show the contrast of the two –Desiree’s innocent love and Armand’s turbulent love. Wolff concludes by stating that “Desiree’s Baby” supports one of Chopin’s main concerns, “the fiction of limits” (133), there is no limit to what an author can write and how it would be