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Imani Williams

UWRT 1102-009

Prof. Quitadamo

3/13/2017

Critical Analysis

Feminism is the advocacy of womens rights on the grounds of social, political, and

economic equality. Therefore, one may ask what is wrong with that? What is so distasteful about

womens rights? The Story of an Hour is representational of Kate Chopins life, inspired by her

mothers life, it is a feminist piece expressed through the character of Louise Mallard.

In the 19th century women and men lived in different spheres. Where men were placed in

the public section and women were put in the private section. Men and women had completely

different roles and expectations. They were opposites of each other with the expectations of

women as being homebound, domesticated, passive and weak while men were the powerful,

brave and logical ones. Often men and women did not see each other throughout the day only to

see each other at dinner. (Damon-Bach,4)

Story of an Hour author Kate Chopin was born February 8, 1850. Kate grew up in St.

Louis Missouri to a French mother and Irish father. Kate was raised with a lot of love and grew

up very nurtured from the various women in her life but she experienced a lot of tragedy as well.

Her father died in a railroad accident and she grew up during the civil war in a city that was

divided between the Union and the Confederate army. Kate Chopin later met and married her
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husband Oscar Chopin. She and her husband had six children together and they lived in New

Orleans, Louisiana. Around age thirty, Kate became a widow and was forced to raise six children

by herself therefore Kate returned home to St. Louis Missouri to live with her mother. It was

after her husbands death, when Kate started to write. Many of Kates stories have been argued

to be feminist pieces giving off the strong themes about women and marriage. Kate Chopins

story, The Awakening was highly criticized because of it was written by a woman and

expressed a different emphasis on womens roles. A strong sense of feminine consciousness

embodied her work. (Yinhua ,1) The above quote reiterates what the point stated above that

Kate Chopin created many feminine pieces.

In Kate Chopins, A Story of an Hour, Louise Mallard is the protagonist. Louise is

described as a fragile woman who was afflicted with heart trouble. (Norton 279) She is

portrayed as the average 19th Century woman that tended to housely duties and took care of her

husband Brently Mallard. The story starts off in the living room of the Mallards home. Louises

sister Josephine is there as well as Louises husbands friend, Richard. Richard and Josephine

had just received news that Brently was in a railroad accident and was confirmed dead at the

scene. Josephine is in tears as she tries to find the best way to break the news to Louise of

Brentlys death. Josephines main concern is about Louises health because as stated earlier

Louise is fragile. The story occurs within the hour.

Throughout Kate Chopins short story, The Story of an Hour, it exemplifies feministic

views several times throughout the story. To start off in the beginning when Josephine broke the

news of Brentlys death, Louise wept in her arms. Louise grieved and grieved until she could

excuse herself to her bedroom. Then Louise started thinking to herself, she tried to describe the

feeling that she was feeling. It took a minute for her to understand but the overwhelming feeling
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she felt was freedom. Freedom, sweet freedom, Louise whispered to herself the words, Free!

Body and soul free! (Norton, 279) The fact that Louise the protagonist whispered these words to

herself indicates her marriage was not satisfying her like it would have to any other woman of

her time. It indicates that Louise was unhappy in her marriage. Then the demeanour of Louise

changes drastically. She goes from upset and crying to happy and rejoicing in private. Although

Louise is happy and exciting about her new-found freedom, her family and friends think she is in

the room making herself ill. Her sister Josephine is knocking on the door and pleading with

Louise to come out the bedroom. When Louise finally steps out the bedroom and returns

downstairs. Brently Mallard walks through the door and states that he was miles away from the

wreck. When Brently walked through the door, Louise fallen ill and died. The story ends there.

In the story, Louises reaction about her husbands death is an example of feminism.

Louise Mallard was a woman who wanted opportunities that were available only to men. To a

great extent Louise could be understood as a typical spokeswoman for modern feminism...

(Yinhua.1) The above quote is stating how Louise stood for something much bigger than herself.

Louises own actions showed how unhappy she was in her marriage. Kate Chopins character

Louise represented feminism because Louise excitement about being newly widowed is an

analogy for womens rights. Louise states in the story, Her fancy was running riot along with

those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her

own. This quote shows how Louise was thrilled at all the possible things she will be able to

accomplish now that Brently is out of the picture. Which indicates how women were often

subjugated to men because the second she got freedom she ran with it.

As stated above in the thesis, I believe that Kate Chopin wrote this story in reflection of her

mothers life. Kate Chopins father died in a train wreck just like how Mr. Mallard was assumed
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dead. Kates mom then became a widow and raised Kate by herself with the help of Kates

grandmother who was also a widow. Kate was raised by two independent women who loved and

nurtured her and which I feel transcended into her writing. Louise was independent for a short

lived moment in her life. Mrs. Mallard lived for an hour, experiencing rebirth into freedom and

died when that freedom was lost. (Yinhua,2) The above quote shows how although Louise was

alive she was not living. She was just simply going the motions. Further indicating that she was

unhappy and was displeased in her marriage.

In the Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin challenged her readers to think outside of the box

of what womens roles were during her time-period through the character of Louise. Louise

stood for feminism. Louise represented what a lot of women wanted during that time to be free

from subjugation of men. This story is great representation of Kate Chopins life expressed in

Louise Mallard.
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Works Cited

Cantarow, Ellen. Sex, Race, and Criticism: Thoughts of a White Feminist on Kate Chopin and

Zora Neale Hurston. The Radical Teacher, no. 9, 1978, pp. 3033

Chopin, Kate The story of an hour The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Kelly J Mays,

W.W. Norton & Company. Inc., 2014, 278-280

Damon-Bach, Lucinda L., et al. Separate Spheres No More: Gender Convergence in American Literature, 1830-

1930. University of Alabama Press, 2014.

Tolentino, Jasdomin Kate Chopin's Life and Personal Influence. Excellence in Research

Award. (2008) Paper 2. 10-1

Yinhua, Hou. An Hour's Freedom, Timeless Feminism: On Irony and Imagery in Kate Chopin's The

Story of an Hour. Overseas English (2011) 2-1.