The short story entitled “Story Of An Hour” written by Kate Chopin is a powerful story about a woman, Mrs. Mallard who is given the horrible news that her husband has just passed away in a train wreck. Devastated by her husband’s sudden death she excuses herself and immediately rushes to her bedroom where we see a different side of Mrs. Mallard’s attitude. She has taken on a different angle of life now, she is upset about her husband’s sudden death, however; she has something to be happy about it. Now that her husband has passed away is Mrs. Mallard happy because she is now her own person? Or is Mrs. Mallard truly upset that her husband has passed?
“Story Of An Hour” was written in 1894, which was in a time period where women did not really have much power or say in anything that went on. Women were really the ones that stayed home and took care of the family and tended to the house, while the husbands went out and worked. Women really stayed out of the lime light and their opinions were never heard or considered. Even though women had desires and feelings, those feelings were never heard of. Women did not dare speak out about their feelings or their rights, it was just not heard of in that time period. Women really lived a life of silence then because they had no voice and they dared not once speak out.
Kate Chopin lived in this type of time period where women really did not have any rights. Chopin wrote stories where the characters were women who were dealt with these types of issues head on. Chopin was well known for writing short stories that centered around women who are faced with these types of society blocks. However in her stories the women usually take on different side. The women in her stories normally choose their own path rather then what is excepted of them in the eyes of the society. In the end it is the women who gets what they truly want our of life.
One major theme in Kate Chopin’s story is freedom. In the