Story Of An Hour Conflict Essay

Conflicts in “The Story of an Hour” “The Story of an Hour” is a short story written by Kate Chopin. The story is about a young women in the 1900s being told that her husband has been killed in an accident. Many different internal and external conflicts arise throughout the story. This essay will describe three of them. The first conflict is external, man vs. nature. Mrs. Mallard, the women in the story, has some sort of heart disease. The story begins with her sister, who has to break the news “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.” (784). Mrs.Mallard’s sister was worried that she’d be so shocked, she might have a heart attack.
Mrs. Mallard has conflicted feelings when she’s told what happened. At first she was overcome with sadness, because she loved him and he loved her. “She knew she would weep again when she saw the kind tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her,” (786). But back in the 1900s women were held to different standards. Mrs. Mallard had felt trapped in her marriage. “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to absolutely her. And she spread her arms out to them in welcome” (786). And lastly there was another external conflict, man vs. society. This conflict is what led to the last conflict. Women’s role in society in the early 1900s. Women were expected to be house wives. They had little to no power in the world. Women couldn’t vote or even own their own land. “There would be no one to live for her during those coming year; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that bind” (787). Mrs.Mallard was going threw a power struggle. She felt trapped in the role of housewife, and she was relieved to hear she could finally be