The Story Of An Hour

The Story of an Hour

Kate Chopin

"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. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination." (158)

Louise Mallard- Grieving Wife or a Free Woman?

When a loved one dies, a person is expected to go through many stages of acceptance, including initial denial and grief. When there is a lack of either of these emotions, it should be clear there was something amiss within the relationship of those two people. This is clearly the case of Louise Mallard in Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour. In the moments after receiving the news of her husbands accidental death, Louise finds herself in a comfortable state where out the window she takes new notice of "the new spring life" and "the delicious breath of rain" (157). Within the context of the chosen paragraph, Chopin is able to present thecharacter of Louise Mallard as a woman freed from a repressive marriage, rather than a grieving widowed wife, allowing for a hidden dialogue on the repression of women through the institution of marriage.

At the time that this short story was written, women had relatively no rights in comparison with men in society. Often times, wives were expected to do all house work, take care of the children, and make sure the life of their husband was comfortable, regardless of the woman's wishes and desires. Louise Mallard was no different from any of these women. Ultimately, she loved her husband- sometimes, but it was only in Brenlty Mallards death that she realized his will had been imposed upon her the whole time throughout their marriage (158). Within this paragraph, you get the sense that to Louise, marriage was viewed as a prison- a prison to her husband, to society, and to the dreams that she would never be able to accomplish because of the blind persistence that bent her will to that of another's. She is illuminated by the thought that no longer will she have to succumb to the conviction of Brently and imagines how her life will be years from now, free and all to herself.

Within this hour of time,

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