The Story of an Hour

This passage, ‘The Story Of An Hour’ talks about a woman that’s finally free from her trapped
marriage. The narrator's function is to help us understand the emotions of all women at the time
who want their own freedom and it aligns with the realization that Mrs. Mallard has at the end of
the novel, allowing us to understand the unattainable freedom she desires when she dies. Mrs.
Mallard is a woman who’s married and has a weak heart. Josephine, her sister, has come to
break some news to her weak-hearted sister, and in broken, hesitant sentences, she surely did.
Talk of a railroad disaster had occurred and unfortunately--or shall I say, fortunately?--Mrs.
Mallard’s husband was among the group of people that were killed in this accident and
devastation shook as Mrs. Mallard sobbed in her sister’s arms. When the doleful feeling had
faded far enough, she went to her room, just her. “...the open window, a comfortable, roomy
armchair,” was what she came to, this gave her a sense of exhaustion just by looking at it, she
sank into the chair. With her head thrown back on the cushion of the chair and her not moving, a
sob had escaped her throat and she shook, after all crying was not new to her. But then “ there
was a dull stare in her eyes,” this stare was not a stare that you would usually think of as a stare
of reflection, but rather a stare of realization. Something was coming to her, she knew whatever
it was, it could not be a form of mourning, her husband had just died but she felt like she could
feel something for herself now even though she, “...was striving to beat it back with her will.” But
then she just ‘abandoned herself’ and said it, not holding herself back anymore, the word “free”
had escaped her lips, it felt so surreal, she repeated it over, and over, her eyes stayed wide and
bright.

This passage was written in 1894, and women's rights had not been attained till 1920, the
United States started being a country in the late 1700’s, taking them almost 200 years to reach
this point. So seeing as this story was written before her gender got rights, they were not being
seen as equals, society wouldn’t have looked at it as, “oh, yeah, Kate Chopin has a point”,
instead it would be, “ This woman is crazy.” So Louise now being able to live for herself is very
convenient, but to others, the author writing that during the 1800s must have been so weird. As
she sat there considering her options, she stopped, “...she saw beyond that bitter moment a
long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely,” This was her moment of
realization and her thinking about her freedom, her relief, what she would do, and how she
would do it. Mrs. Mallard was happy, she was now in a situation where she could do what she
wanted for herself. But oh behold, the man ‘comes back’ and ruins everything for her. Looking at
this story, it gives us a tale that offers a glimmer of hope, the author ‘telling’ us that, “we don’t
have it yet, but it’s on the horizon and I can see it. All the women during that time would kill to be
in her position. The author portrays Mrs. Mallard to stand for all the women in 1894, to show
how most if not all the women were feeling and how they all wished for such freedom and relief.
“...years to come that would belong to her absolutely, all those years that she could control for
herself was what all women would want, instead of being housewives with no to little education.
Mrs. Mallard is giving us a view of what feminism could be, the idea of women living for
themselves, but in Mrs. Mallard's case, she is not able to attain that luxury. Her sister calls her
and they walk down the stairs together, however by the time they reach their last steps, Brently
Mallard walks in from the front of the door. And as expected Mrs. Mallard is then so shocked
she has a heart attack, and dies, again not being able to attain that feeling of being “Free! Body
and soul free!”