Winnie Effendy 07911893
“The story of an hour” by Kate Chopin
The story is about complicated reaction of Louise Mallard upon learning of her
husband’s death. The theme was before women had the right to vote, and when being a
devoted wife and mother was the feminine ideal. It also describes America in the 1890s.
Louise’s life is shaped by what society believes a woman should be and how a
wife should behave. Once Louise’s husband “dies,” however, she sees a way where she
can start claiming some of the more “masculine” freedoms for herself. The author shows
how deeply important freedom is to the life of a woman when, in the end, it’s not the shock
of her husband’s return of her husband that kills Louise, but rather the thought of losing
her freedom again.
At first, sorrow appears as Louise mourns the death of her husband. Yet, in just a
few paragraphs, she finds joy in the event as she discovers a life of her own. Though
Louise is able to see that feeling joy at such an event is “monstrous,” she continues to
revel in her happiness.
The reversal of the “appropriate” feelings at each event reveals how
counterintuitive the “self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest
impulse of her being” is to the surrounding culture. This paradox reveals something