'The Story Of An Hour' By Kate Chopin

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin contains various themes and symbols all corresponding to the realist style of the piece of literature.
“There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. 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). Louise is a very different woman from the start of the short story. From the beginning the readers can classify Louise’s characteristics apart from the other women (Josephine). When Josephine goes to check on Louise in her room she expects her to be sobbing and drowning in sorrow. Whereas Louise has just found “the elixir of life” and is pulsing with joy as well as a sigh of freedom. Since Josephine expects Louise to be
distraught it shows the readers that Josephine thinks in the ways of the contemporary society, she stands in the fact that wives should attain to their husbands (Wan). Since Louise almost feels relieved or freed after her husband’s death it shows how she was not like the other women in her society, she was different. Although Louise craved this desire of freedom it was far from reach due to the ways of the restraining society she lived in. Becoming a free woman would mean creating her own status and role as well as dealing with society’s opposition to it all (Wan). Perceiving Louise’s psychological state of mind could be best described as fighting between the real world and the world inside of her mind made up of her fantasies (Wan). All these troubles finally dismiss when she discovers the news of her husband’s death. The quote stated above really depicts Louise’s sanity, it portrays what she has been longing for an elongated amount of time. Louise’s appetite for liberation is porously shown for a brief moment of time, but when Brently arrives home alive and well the awareness of freedom is banished from Louise. Although the doctors state that Louise had passed from a “joy that kills” many disagree with this quote from the text implying that Louise had died from her dreams that were becoming reality being dismissed as quickly as they came (Wan). That statement is also contradicted by the possibility of greatness dispelling from Louise’s death, her death being her key to immortal freedom (Wan). The most impacting theme of “The Story of an Hour” is the confinement of a woman in such traditional societies who attempt to free herself (Berenji).
Mrs.Mallard’s dream life begins when she starts planning for her future of freedom which in the case of the story starts with the planning of her husband’s funeral (Berenji). The irony of the story of how Mr.Mallard arrives home alive, and Mrs.Mallard dies of the sight represents how men controlled the past, present, and future of Louise Mallard in the state of the authoritative figure of the marriage (Berenji). When thinking about her new freedom she thinks about her husband's funeral for the future, it seems as if Mr.Mallard is everywhere although in reality he isn’t. It seems as if wherever Mr.Mallard is there is no room for freedom for Louise (Berenji). Possibly it all relates back to the time period of the traditional society of men being the dominant figure. Although the purpose of “The Story of an Hour” was not written by Chopin to ambush men as controlling creatures, but rather in a sense of the everyday events in the time period that were presumed “normal” at the
time. The theme of confinement attained by women in the traditional society porously shines in “The Story of an Hour.” Louise Mallard (the main character in the short story) yearns for freedom and when her husband spontaneously dies she can see her freedom. Mrs.Mallard lives for the future of liberation which she can now distinctly see, she becomes filled with joy for the future. When Mr.Mallard arrives home alive Louise dies, attentively from “the joy that kills”, but depending on the reader can be discussed upon the reasoning of her death. The theme of “The Story of an Hour” being the confinement brought upon women in a traditional society who urge for freedom plays a huge role in the style of this type of writing, Realism.