Analyzing Kate Chopin's 'The Story Of An Hour'

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Recommended: "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and Response

Jesse Nez Castillo
ENGL 1213, CRN 32316
June 11, 2018
Critical Response #1
Happiness Kills
In Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour”, the author makes it clear that marriage is an imprisonment, a life sentence to spousal servitude. Chopin writes, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have the right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (557). The main character, Mrs. Mallard, has a slow building realization upon receiving what should be devastating news. It took a life changing tragedy for the character to admit to herself that she was not happy. So the question is then asked, is anyone really happy in his or her marriage? Or are they settling? Satisfied with the bare minimum.
Mrs. Mallards husband is dead. Her reaction at first was that of a typical grieving widow. However, once she retires to her own quarters she continues to decipher the rest of her feelings and in them she discovers joy and freedom. So strong was the overwhelming feeling of joy and freedom that she dies. Of course those feelings weren’t enough to kill her, Mrs. Mallard had a heart disease. …show more content…

In “The Story of an Hour”, the author discusses the socioeconomics of what is expected in marriage, like submission and sometimes compromise. Mrs. Mallard was not happy in her marriage and at times not in love. Chopin writes, “And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not” (557). She goes on to talk about individuality and self-realization. Chopin also writes, “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years: she would live for herself” (557). She states that she was free to live for herself, meaning that in that marriage she wasn’t living for herself, but for the man she agreed to stay with forever. This quote raises the questions: Does one loose their own individuality once they are married? Do they have

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