i need four paragraphs that answer the following topics and fit into my essay based on Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour

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Kristie Laplante

Professor Cardidad McCormick

ENC 1102

4th Aug 2020

1. How are the roles of men and women portrayed in the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin? Are they distinctly different? Do they have equal rights? What gender

expectations do they follow or fight against? What sort of commentary was Chopin

making about the gender politics of her time?

1800s Marriage

The gender roles of the 1800s were distinctive and straitlaced. From apparel to rights,

men dictated what was acceptable, thereby creating a visible difference in superiority. Men and

women bore contrasting levels of power in their marriages, also. A women’s individuality in

realms such as relationships were frequently veiled due to having to live for their spouse instead

of themselves. The male-dominated society being indicative to women’s suppression has been

addressed in many pieces of literature such as “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. In Kate

Chopin’s short story, she describes anti-feminism, a contemporary patriarchy, and an unexpected

liberation from marriage.

To begin, Kate Chopin implies that Mrs. Mallard was a victim of circumstance. She was

informed that her husband just passed by her sister Josephine and husband’s friend Richards. In

reference to the piece, it states “She knew that 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, fixed and

gray and dead.” The harsh situation that was revealed to her did not cause her the amount of

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distress anticipated by both the reader and her sister. Chopin’s use of this line signifies how she

feels set free from the bounds that were her marriage; Mrs. Mallard had love for her husband,

Brently but has more joy than sadness from the notion the he’s dead. This can be due to this time

period being when wives were complacent, and husbands were authoritative. She was merely

there to be Mr. Mallard’s wife. This is demonstrated throughout the text; Kate does not provide

us with a name for the character other than her wed name. Knowing her to only be Brently’s wife

portrays a woman who no longer has an identity that isn’t connected to her spouse. The vigor she

felt when she gained knowledge of his demise stemmed from the realization that she is her own

person again. “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.” Mrs.

Mallard was free from a controlling marriage no longer restricted by being in a marital

relationship.

Additionally, the themes of a patriarchal superiority are prevalent in the excerpt. A patriarchy is

a social structure wherein men possess major influence and play a large role in political positions

of leadership, moral leadership, social privilege, and property ownership. “Her heart problem

indicated clearly showed abandonment, and pain in her a marriage emotionally and

psychologically before his death she wouldn’t realize her joy in life indicated by “women

believing that they have a right to possess a private will on creatures.” (Paudel 98) This was a

kind of inhuman intention which made the action taken seem not as a crime as she looked upon it

in that short time of illumination

During the 19th century, the expected role of a man to get married to a younger lady and

provide for the family they were expected to learn to love each other while together, it almost

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worked as an economic and social arrangement. In the story, the author states, “She was young,

with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. the character was not

in love, “And yet she had loved him -sometimes. Often, she had not. What did it matter!”

Kate Chopin shows that the character in the story suffered a heart problem and the

husband's friend who was known as Richard together with her sister Josephine new her condition

and gave her the story carefully, this portrays that Mrs. mallard to be weak but afterward

becomes stronger and confidence she contemplates her newly found independence and

completely delighted by the thought of being free (Geriguis 7).

This story displays the roles of women and men as distinctively different, back then men

were expected to be the head. Marriage was a passage that everyone was supposed to enter but at

a younger age. Mr. Mallard was an older man married to younger lady Mrs. Mallard without any

love accompaniment mallard went to work while she stayed home to handle all other homework.

In the story, it's clear that both roles were different since women marriage like slavery

they were to get into marriage, and their lives are handed over to the man to do she will. The

woman was to do has the man wants and desires the desires and needs of a woman were not

looked nor heard since they were inferior beings. Therefore, roles played by the parties

especially in marriage were distinctively different and men were always dominant and the

oppressors.

Chopin depicts clearly that there were no equal rights, she went on to state women are

oppressed in marriage. Mrs. Mallard at the start of the story she says the character had a heart

condition “Mrs. Mallard was bothered with a heart problem and she was home alone while the

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husband went to work. The message bearers of the death of the husband were carefully how to

deliver, this all shows how the woman was oppressed her rights were not looked after.

The rights of the woman were not reserved they are forced to enter in a union with an

older man as indicated, it is clearly stated that she was young having a calm and fair face whose

lines bespoke repression “She was not happy and the life in marriage never interested her its

shown by her statement, in addition, there would be no more powerful bend in the blind

persistence whereby women and men believed that they have right to possess any private will

against any creature.

Her statement “she had a quick breath and prayed for longer life. She was relived and for

once she was free. She was ready for the freedom that she literally died of heart failure when her

husband walked through the door. Mrs. Mallard stood at the window represented endless

possibilities that Mr. Mallard’s death has given her. The open window was the impetus which

was a sign of a new life of freedom. Therefore, their rights were unequal.

The man could bend the woman to his will regardless of the two entering to marriage

union together the woman was considered inferior. Hence from the story, Chopin is stating there

were gender inequality and the imposed rights to man and where women were favoring man,

dominance, and power were the key. The men and women have no equal rights in marriage, from

the story it’s clear that Mrs. Mallard never worked and stayed at home

The book as Chopin portrays there are gender expectations that are followed. The man

was expected to marry a young woman and she was to be a housewife. Marriage was an

economic and social arrangement made by parents or individuals to have an economic gain. It’s

clear from the fac that Mrs. mallard wasn’t in love “And yet she loved him-sometimes, What did

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it matter “it indicates she was forced to enter the marriage without prior love emotions, The man

was to work and feed the woman portrayed by the abandonment of Mrs. mallard at home while

suffering from a heart problem he walks through the door and his wife succumbs to heart failure.

Women were expected to be housewives and bend to every will of the man its clear when

by her thoughts, in this story we are been told that her fancy was running riot ahead of her.

Therefore, no one will be there to live for her in the future. She would live herself” she was

fantasizing the days to come without her husband's oppression. The description such as “the

notes of a distant song, a countless sparrow patches of blue sky showing her” they indicate the

new life free living free from marriage slavery, she was disinterested about her husband but her

freedom finally arrived.

The gender oppression in marriage especially women bending to the husband's will,

Chopin indicated that as oppression against women, they are not allowed to express themselves

freely, their big role is being a housewife. She is fighting against that "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". The statement thought by the

character Mrs. Mallards indicates she is not in support of the oppression against women. What

sorts of commentary was Chopin making about the gender politics of her time?

According to this story, Kate Chopin urges about gender politics she states that the

submission of women to men affects them both physically and psychologically from the story

Mrs. mallards she was married while young but now she looks old from the harsh conditions of

her marriage “she was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression “due to the

oppression her face bespoke of repression (Álvarez 84). She protests the marriages without love

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done to economic gain, from the story Mrs. Mallard did not her husband and she was relieved of

her passing away granting her freedom she never knew of.

The fact that Mrs. Mallard grieved for a moment, she is descriptive of all things which

she sees instantly as if she was okay to recall details of them. In this story, it is that she was

controlled by her husband and she was not happy in her marriage life. “The kind tender hands

folded in death” she used this statement ironically of a man who controlled and overruled her.

She is eventually overwhelmed with intense happiness and freedom at his death. Chopin the

writer fights from slavery in marriage and discourages it.

She has freed herself from the oppression of her husband and sighted her new life

without anyone controlling nor telling her what to do. She had a whole life ahead as she was a

young woman and the joy she had not seen nor felt for long was here, Chopin shows the freedom

Mrs. Mallard had gained was great that she would anymore bear it therefore at the sight of her

husband she died at his sight. Therefore, she rather dies than live in oppressive marriage.

“Chopin insists that gender equality should be reserved and woman rights followed in marriage

just as for men.” (Hu 1-7)

To sum, the author of this story captures marriage as an institution that is being dictated

by men. The death of Mrs. Mallard tells about impossibility of idealistic feminist who is looking

for freedom at the wrong time. In conclusion, this story proves that liberation for women is an

extremely vital issue and it is remarkable in the means that women gained their freedom.

Through the death of Brently Mallard, it implies that women who are looking for ideal feminine

selfhood are not possible in an age which is influenced by patriarchs.

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Work cited

[Ebook]. The Story of an Hour By Kate Chopin (1894) Knowing That Mrs ...

https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Short-Story-Collection.pdf.

Accessed 8 Aug. 2020.

Dealing With Contemporary Patriarchy, Part One – The Standing Bear.

http://thestandingbear.com/dealing-with-contemporary-patriarchy-part-one/. Accessed 8

Aug. 2020.

Feminism Isn’t Anti-Men, It’s Anti-Patriarchy - Women’s Republic.

https://www.womensrepublic.net/feminism-isnt-anti-men-its-anti-patriarchy/. Accessed 8

Aug. 2020.

The Story of an Hour || Kate Chopin || ISC Echoes || ISC Short ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as4dOREJ7pE. Accessed 8 Aug. 2020.

Geriguis, Lora E. "The “It” and the “Joy That Kills:” An Ecocritical Reading of Chopin’s THE

STORY OF AN HOUR." The Explicator 78.1 (2020): 5-8.

Paudel, Kishor. "Existential Angst in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour." NCC Journal 4.1

(2019): 97-99.

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Hu, Aihua. "The Story of an Hour: Mrs. Mallard’s Ethically Tragic Song." ANQ: A Quarterly

Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews (2020): 1-7.

Álvarez, Ehn Kao. "Leaving One’s Room: A Feminist Analysis of Kate Chopin’s Story of an

Hour-Abandonando el cuarto propio: Un Análisis feminista de La Historia de una Hora

de Kate Chopin." Revista Imago 10 (2016): 76-85.