Independence In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

In The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, the idea that independence is something that many humans want to accomplish and maintain in their life is expressed. The reason for this is that achieving a life that is established purely on self-determination is a natural instinct for humans. Kate Chopin expresses this idea in The Story of an Hour through characterization, but more clearly through Louise Mallard. Mrs. Millard had just heard the news that a railroad accident has killed her husband by her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards. She wept and stormed into her room after hearing the terrible news. There she sat in a chair and looked out the window. That was the moment were she had an epiphany that revealed that she had now gained independence.
It seems that the doctor concluded that Mrs. Millard died from the overwhelmed joy of seeing her husband alive. That was not the case for the real reason that she died was because the newly found joy of independence had been stripped away from her in a heartbeat. Mrs. Millard values independence because the cause of her death was “of joy that kills”. The reason it could not be the joy of seeing her husband was because she was completely over the death of her husband within an hour. This can be concluded by seeing the title, which is The Story of an Hour. She had even stated that she had only truly loved him on a few occasions in the passage. The situation of her death reveals how self-determination has naturally been ingrained in her identity. This ingraining occurs in minuets and it has been bound to her life. The part about “the heart disease” shows how the lack have self-assertion has been damaging her over the years. She didn’t know that this “heart disease” has been caused by the poison of dependence and of no voice. Self-determination was the cure but her husband being still alive was the final death