Story Of An Hour Analytical Essay

Originally titled, “The Dream of an Hour”, “The Story of an Hour” was written in the era when Social Darwinism had profound effects on disparate fields and disciplines. The short story examines the classic and still relevant look at women’s identities beyond just the domestication issues of modern women. Not only were women confined in their expected role as wives, which included raising children, cooking, and cleaning, but they were also going through a transformation of sorts during the modern era. Men represented oppression. Thus, life free from subservience through “bad circumstances” meant the start of a new life, not the end. In “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin uses the character's inner conflict, health condition, and Mr. Mallard’s supposed death to
illustrate a picture of how women were oppressed by social norms and male counterparts. One way the character's inner conflict is portrayed is through the setting and tone. Authors “usually associate death with autumn and winter” (May 3908), but Kate Chopin uses spring to show a relationship with death. According to Short Stories for Students, “the young 'repressed' woman [begins] to look at her widowhood as a rebirth, similar to the 'new spring' outside her window” (268). The open window she looks out represents the freedom and opportunity that awaits her. Although the trees that are all grown with the new spring life contradicts the gloom that she is supposed to be experiencing as a widowed wife, this can be seen as her mental state after achieving the wanted autonomy. Not only are the birds and children happily shouting and singing, but also the “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west” are characterized as a jubilant mood (Chopin 595). Her wish seems to be granted in the sense that she is no longer under the oppression of her husband. Although Lawrence Berkove, a literary critic, believes that “there is no hard evidence whatsoever of patriarchal blindness or suppression [and] constant or selfless sacrifice by Louise” (233), the statement is disproved by Chopin's representation of Mrs.
Mallard's inner conflict through her emotional struggle. Jennifer Hicks, a literary critic, states that the fact that Mrs. Mallard does not let anyone follow her could also mean that “she would have no one interfere with her life again” (“Story of an Hour” 270). After she endeavors to push away the feeling freedom, she finally allows the monstrous joy of freedom crawl into her. Her acceptance of this feeling is shown through the anaphoric statement, “There would be no one to live for her” and “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” (Chopin 595). She can live her own life without being under her husband's oppression. Also, Mrs. Mallard experiences all of the emotion in her room where she is able to “admit or exclude whomever she wants” (May 3908). Mrs. Mallard is finally able to unchain herself from her feeling of
uncertainty. The story begins with the description of Mrs. Mallard's weak health condition. Because “Physically, Mrs. Mallard's heart [is] weak, and emotionally, it [has] no room for anyone else” (Berkove 235), it is one of the contributing factor that leads to her death. Thus, other characters' treatment toward Mrs. Mallard is cautious. For example, Mr. Mallard's friend Richards tries to prevent Mrs. Mallard from seeing her husband to decrease her possible shock, but his action is trivial in that “Louise has already recognized what her life with Brentley was like” (Cunningham 85). According to Barbara Ewell, a literary critic, the irony and misinterpretation of a respected medical profession's statement, “the joy that kills” (Chopin 596) “ indicts the conventional view of female devotion and suggests that Louise Mallard is not the only woman whose behavior has been misread” (“'The Story of an Hour” 273). The doctor thinks that the excitement of Mr. Mallard's return is too much for her to handle; when in fact, the realization of her freedom disappearing in an instant is the cause of her death. While the death of her husband might be a tragic incident for a wife, the death of Mr. Mallard was not depressing to Mrs. Mallard. According to Short Stories for Students, the symbolism of Mrs. Mallard, feminine individuality, is shown through her excitement of the “prospect of beginning her life again after the reported demise of her husband” (“The Story of an Hour 265). In addition, Chopin says that “[Mrs. Mallard] did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance” (594). She accepted the reality of her husband’s death right away. This is a situational irony in that most wives would be in disbelief and saddened by the news of their husband’s death. Although Mr. Mallard was kind and loving, “nothing can compensate Louise for the freedom that she has lost by marrying” (May 3908).Thus, she is ecstatic about her gaining her life back. Mary Papke states that Mrs. Mallard’s “unconsciously [choosing] to enfold herself in a female embrace and not in the arms of the male friend who tells her of Mallard’s death “, shows that she has already turned to a “female world” (“The Story of an Hour” 271). Mrs. Mallard is ready to be independent and freed from the male world. Additionally, the death of Mr. Mallard also plays a major role in determining the fine line of her freedom. Although Josephine’s statement, “Louise open the door!” (Chopin 595 is an indication of freedom since Mrs. Mallard is referred by her first name, which means that she has no relation with Mr. Mallard, her freedom is still limited. No matter what, she is considered as a widow. Therefore, “any current freedom is based on her relation to the past”, and her “future freedom [will be] largely shaped by her husband’s will, his written wishes to be carried out after his death” (Cunningham 86). Her freedom that she feels in an hour is just an ephemeral illusion, hiding the real truth behind her autonomy.
With the return of Mr. Mallard came the “reconstitution of her marriage and previous social position” (Cunningham 85). Chopin’s usage of situational irony supports Mark Cunningham’s statement in that Mr. Mallard who was supposedly dead is alive while Mrs. Mallard dies. This shows that the death of Mr. Mallard is not enough to free her from her social position. Society has to “be transformed if women are to attain true and lasting selfhood” (Evans 278). Therefore, Mrs. Mallard’s only choice left to be entirely free from her husband is through her death. Also, the cryptic meaning behind her death is that “should a woman glimpse herself as an individual and then be denied the chance to live freely, the result will be death, or the dissolution of that new identity” (Short Stories for Students 268). Ultimately, the return of Mr. Mallard shows what women had to face in order to gain their freedom.
All in all, Chopin’s usage of Mrs. Mallard, her heart condition, and Mr. Mallard brings out the main theme of the story, oppression. Chopin’s advocacy of feminism is thoroughly represented through Mrs. Mallard as an ideal example of the inner struggles of women dominated by the males in the 1800s. Despite the happiness of the autonomy that Chopin portrays, it shows that women had no free place in the patriarchal society except to perform their role as wives.