Chopin Gender Roles

Gender Roles
Gender roles have been a debating topic for years. Society sets up multiple roles for women to keep them in a secondary position. A series of feminist activities between 19th and 20th century have recorded the process of the changing of women’s status. Kate Chopin, a forerunner of feminist authors of late 19th century, wrote a short story “The Story of An Hour” to encourage the independence of women. The story tells the psychological changes of Mrs. Mallard after she got the news that her husband is dead. She was shocked at first; but after a while, she turns the sorrow to the happiness of gaining the freedom ever after. However, Mrs. Mallard finally dies of a heart attack due to the desperation of seeing her husband actually
What women need to do is merely take the responsibility of taking care of the family, such as cleaning, cooking, giving birth of babies, or serving their husbands. Women could be judged or predicted casually by men. In “The Story of An Hour”, even the reason for the death of Mrs. Mallard is arbitrarily proved by the doctor, “When the doctors came they said she has died of heart disease – of the joy that kills” (Chopin). The doctor concludes that, because he assumes all women are supposed to be happy when being around their husbands. It is possible that Mrs. Mallard died since she was so frustrated to see her husband back. But she never has the chance to speak for herself. It is similar to the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The woman is restricted from writing, which represents that she is forbidden to express what she thinks, and to record what she sees. She always has to listen to her husband; especially her husband is an authorized doctor. When the woman’s husband tries to convince her to stop thinking about the wallpaper, he said, “I beg of you, for my sake and for our child’s sake, as well as for your own, that… enter your mind!” (Gilman). He never places the woman’s feeling as the first priority. The status of women in society leads to the ignorance of women’s thoughts. Women’s secondary status in society is the culturally enforced behavior since people
In the stories, Mrs. Mallard and the woman both have secret worlds in the bottoms of their hearts. The woman insists that keeping journal could make her feel better, “Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Gilman). Women are considered as weak creature. She holds different opinion from others, but she is not allowed to follow her own heart. It shows how oppressed the women were in the society; they must hide their original personalities and act as the way men would satisfied with. Gilman challenges the gender stereotypes by depicting how the woman keeps writing. She shows that women could be powerful and full of strength. In “The Story of An Hour”, Mrs. Mallard could never express her desire for freedom if she always lives as a wife. When the family tie vanished, the actual thoughts of Mrs. Mallard could appear, which is her longing for the freedom. Both characters in stories are untraditional women with strong minds. They are not hysterical when facing difficulties. Instead of being desperate, “she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance” (Chopin). She has independent thoughts, and she has strong, secret mind. She owned the good qualities of great modern women, but she has to pretend to count on her husband to fit