Kate Chopin's View Of The Story Of An Hour

American author Kate Chopin was born Catherine O'Flaherty on July 12, 1850, in St. Louis, Missouri. She was one of three children born to immigrant Irishman Thomas O'Flaherty and a French-American mother, Eliza Faris. She has written two published novels and over a hundred short stories. Most of her stories are set in her hometown of Louisiana and focus on the lives of women. Based on the literary criticisms researched, a lot Kate Chopin's works focused on female emancipation. The era she grew up in was a contemporary society where women were subjected to acting in a certain manner. Women were to get married, have children, and live a traditional life. Chopin did not grow up in a traditional household, perhaps setting the basis for her view

When she hears the news that her husband has died in a train accident, she is ecstatic at the opportunity to live her own life independent of a dominating husband. At the end of the story, she is so shocked by the sight of her husband, alive and well, that she dies suddenly of a heart attack. Those present assume that she is overjoyed at his return. “The Story of an Hour” addresses the thematic issues of identity and selfhood and the role of women in marriage. Chopin felt that contemporary society was degrading to women, who were allotted limited roles in a male-dominated world, and that the only escape from the subservience of being a wife was death. In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses setting and the characterization of Mrs. Mallard to criticize marriage, asserting that women lose their freedom, their power, and their personal identities when they marry. The story is set in the home of Mrs. Mallard. The house is associated with “confinement” and “domesticity.” As Mrs. Mallard gazes through her “open window,” she gains a new perspective on marriage (Chopin). It is alone in her room that she realizes that the death of her husband has transformed her into a free woman who can control her own life. An open window is symbolic of “infinite vision” and represents Mrs. Mallard’s newly gained insight. The “tops of trees” outside of her window are “aquiver with the new spring

The author emphasizes three controversial subjects in her story: racism, prejudice, and marriage. One of her purposes was to expose the inequities of prejudice and female subjugation. In this story, the main character Desiree really belongs to no one. Abandoned as a toddler, she is adopted by loving parents, the Valmondes. However, they know nothing about her heritage or ancestry. After her marriage to a young aristocrat, Armand Aubigny, Desiree hopes that she has found her own real home. Armand has been told about Desiree's background and did not care because of his love for her. After the birth of her son, Armand is happy. Then, the baby begins to show Negroid features. The child is bi-racial. “--Armand--, she panted once more, clutching his arm, --look at our child. What does it mean? Tell me--.” “He coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand away from him. --Tell me what it means! -- She cried despairingly. --It means--, he answered lightly, --that the child is not white; it means that you are not white--” (Chopin). At this time in history, no aristocratic family would have accepted a bi-racial daughter-in-law or grandchild. Desiree did not know who she was; therefore, she had to be the one was part black. Armand tells her to leave and take the baby with her. Desiree walks off toward the swamp and the river. Chopin does not tell the reader what