Story Of An Hour

In the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, there is an apparent reflection of Chopin’s views on feminism and self-reliance. It is expressed greatly how repressive of a role marriage is on women and their lives.

Mrs. Mallard’s husband, Brently’s Mallard, strongly subjugates his wife leaving her to feel a sense of relief and joy once he is pronounced dead from a railroad disaster. The sister Josephine delivered the surprising news of his death as delicately as possible knowing Louise Mallard had a troubling heart condition. Though, the reaction wasn’t one expected for a woman who supposedly “loved” her husband. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance,”

Louise’s desperation for her freedom and to express how overjoyed she is by no longer being below a man conveys that deep underlying tension men and women have between each other. Females are restricted and identified as objects, being subservient with their husbands. Today, marriage can still be seen as a patriarchal institution; existing to benefit the man and keep the woman passive. Little is expected of men, they continue their career and go about their lives while women are assumedly going to start having babies, take care of their husbands, and prioritize everyone else before their own needs are met. It has long been known that women are taught to not value their self-worth until a man is present, that we must work hard to be desirable and beautiful for a man so he will want us. Mrs. Mallard’s relationship followed the pattern of a territorial husband and his need to make the head decisions for everyone. The author is exposing what is a reality seen too often beyond the story; men have authority over their spouses and their lives, ensuring that control is never within the woman’s hands. Although Mrs. Mallard’s husband wasn’t callous towards her, he did strip her of her identity, leaving her with physical and emotional weaknesses. “…Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul” (Paragraph 4, lines 1-3). All the sickly feelings that Mrs. Mallard is facing, serve to show the reader just how much this marriage took a toll on her. She was a woman who had at one point power and rights to speak her mind, but soon became a puppet to a man’s