Kate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour - 1369 Words

The Freedom to Live, and the Freedom to Die By all accounts, this is not a typical story of a battered wife longing for freedom from her vindictive husband. A woman does not need to be have a blatantly cruel or abusive husband to feel trapped, or unhappy. She should not need the presence of violence for these feelings to be validated. Sometimes, it is simply the absence of choice. And, for Louise – the main character in Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† – it takes the untimely demise of her husband for her to realize her subconscious, intrinsic longing: freedom. True freedom and rebirth, symbolized in both setting, and surroundings, is within her grasp. For someone in Louise’s position, in her time period, freedom as we know it today is†¦show more content†¦But she is still hopelessly confined in that opulent cage. There is hope, however. Outside, the spring air stirs. Spring, as we all know, is a sign of rebirth. New life is bursting into existence. And she, along with the s easons, is blossoming into a new life. Moreover, to further emphasize this feeling of rebirth, Kate Chopin subtly mentions the â€Å"delicious breath of rain† (Chopin). Rain. Water. Water that, according to many, is used throughout literature as a symbol of change, and rebirth. And Kate Chopin includes both. They are subtle references, and by avoiding the tired preaching that many authors succumb to, it makes for a far more effective method in illustrating her point. And as Louise’s eyes brighten, so to do her prospects to an extent. This is her window of opportunity, yet for her, the window is simply not wide enough, and it will soon shut its glass panes for good. After all, it is not a downpour. Not even a light sprinkle. Simply a hint. More so a suggestion of what could have been, than anything else. Time does not move on for long enough for the reader to witness this symbol come to fruition. In addition to her masterful symbolism, Kate Chopin conveys to her readers that it is independence, and freedom that makes life worth living through her purposeful, and most assuredly deliberate diction. With a live husband, life for poor Louise is shaping up to be horridly long, but with him dead, â€Å"there would be no one to live for her†¦ she would liveShow MoreRelatedKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour1579 Words   |  7 PagesKate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour written in 1984 is a story of a woman who, through the erroneously reported death of her husband, experienced true freedom. Both tragic and ironic, the story deals with the boundaries imposed on women by society in the nineteenth century. The author Kate Chopin, like the character in her story, had first-hand experience with the male-dominated society of that time and had experienced the death of her husband at a young age. The similarity between Kate Chopin andRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour1336 Words   |  6 Pagessociety as married women. In the story of an hour, the author, Kate Chopin describes the emotions of a woman who is married and tied down to this oath for the rest of her life. The author uses the ways of the society during that time to construct a story that accurately reflects the feelings of majority of women of that time. The goal of the story is to examine how women were indirectly oppressed during those times. The story of an hour is an interesting short story that begin with telling of a heartRead MoreKate Chopin s Story Of The Hour Essay982 Words   |  4 PagesKate Chopin was an American author who wrote two novels that got published and at least a hundred short stories. In Kate’s short story The Story of the Hour she uses some of her traumatic event that happened in her lifespan in the short story even though it the story is fictional. A lot of her fictions were set in Louisiana and her best-known works focused on the lives of sensitive intelligent women. One-third of Mrs. Chopin’s stories are children’s stories. A lot of Mrs. Chopin’s novels were forgottenRead MoreKate Chopin s Story Of An Hour993 Words   |  4 Pagesfiction intermix in stories because writer’s base their stories of real life experiences and feelings. Kate Chopin largely based her stories off of her own life. Kate Chopin spent her childhood years in an alternative and matriarchal Louisiana town with a family that was unconventional. She challenged her nineteenth century sexist society and used her own life to put strength and feminism into her stories like â€Å"The Storm†, â€Å"Desiree’s Baby† and of course â€Å"The Story of an Hour†. She lived with herRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour1921 Words   |  8 Pagesapproaches. For Kate Chopin, the famous author of â€Å"The Awakening† and â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, her most successful approach was to provide audiences with short stories that proposed meaningful and strong messages. However, Kate Chopin’s powerful feminist images that were present throughout her writing has mostly flaunted Chopin as only a â€Å"pioneering feminist writer,† which has led to other messages Chopin incorporated in her writing into being overlooked. In Kate Chopin’s, â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, the shortRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour1 248 Words   |  5 PagesTam Le Jennifer R. Vacca ENGL 2307 19 September 2014 The Stressful Marriage React in Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of An Hour† Kate Chopin was an American author who majored in short stories mostly in topics related to feminism. Her other works include; â€Å"Bayou Folk† of 1894, â€Å"A Night in Acadia† of 1897, and â€Å"The Storm† of 1898. She created her story entitled â€Å"The Story of an Hour† with the aim of using characterization to show how women behave, and the forces that bind marriages. Her character, LouiseRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour981 Words   |  4 Pagesher bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. Kate Chopin â€Å"The Story of an Hour† (477) The purpose of our entire existence is to create and build a legacy so when we depart this life the ones that we leave behind have something to keep with them. We don’t know the time or the place of when our lives will end onRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour1488 Words   |  6 PagesKate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of An Hour† was published in 1894 in Vogue, during a time when women do not have any legal rights. They have low education level and have no opportunity to work; what they can do is stay at home and manage the family. All their lives, they rely on their husband. Women at that time do not think about why they should be treated this way; they were being silenced by society. Kate Chopin uses the character Mrs. Mallard as the representative of all women who wants freedom at thatRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour980 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Story of an Hour,† Mrs. Mallard is a woman trapped in her own golden cage. Throughout the story, the author, Kate Chopin, shows the true colors of matrimony during that time and what it meant in women’s lives. Women were the only possessions attained after marriage, designated to do house labors and take care of a husband and children. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin illustrates that marriage is another manifestation of women’s abdication of liberty once they say â€Å"I do†. â€Å"The Story of anRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour973 Words   |  4 Pagesbe kept on the inside. The problem is that the reason behind the happiness is often forgotten to be analyzed. What was happening behind closed doors? What was the marriage representing? Mrs. Mallard is an important example of this in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour. She just received the news of her husband’s death and is obliged to weep at once. Nevertheless, once she gets away from the pressure of the onlookers, she finds more happiness than sadness in which she cannot fully express outside of