Critical Symbolism In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

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This is a critical analyzation of the short fiction, “The Story of an Hour” in a Feminist approach. “The Story of an Hour” was written by Kate Chopin. Kate Chopin wrote and published this short story in the year of 1894. I chose to analyze “The Story of an Hour” in a Feminist approach because after reading this story, I came to the conclusion that this is the perfect fiction story that shows what women had to go through back in the early nineteenth century. Even though Kate Chopin did not write this based off of a true story, it still symbolizes and shows the struggles, and the way women in families were looked upon in their home, and even out in public. “The Story of an Hour” started off by talking about Mrs. Mallard, the housewife, and …show more content…

Mallard lost her husband, my first instinct was too feel bad for her in this situation. As the story goes on, the widowed wife starts seeing a whole different though process. She finally realizes she is free! She is free from the captivity that she felt when her husband was alive. In that time, women were looked at as being a house wife and a mom. They were not aloud to work outside of the home. It was like being a prisoner in your own home. For once Mrs. Mallard felt free from the world. She knew that once she was at the funeral and saw the body of her once husband she would grieve and weep again, but the other part of her felt relieved. It made me think after reading this story and after I thought about it for a minute, did women who lived this way when males and females were looked upon differently really have this feeling of relief once their significant other passed away? One of the thoughts Kate Chopin wrote in “The Story of an Hour” stated, “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (VCU, pg.1). Mrs. Mallard had a slight feeling of joy after the passing of her

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