essay writing, adding, proofreading

Elisa Borgese

Mrs. Smith

English 1102

10 February 2017

Wives in the 1800’s

Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” is a fiction piece built upon ironic juxtapositions. The setting of the story is the late 1800’s, and the author presents an interesting outlook on marriages. The main character Mrs. Louise Mallard, who suffers from heart problems, has just been carefully informed that her husband has died in a railroad accident. Mrs. Mallard is overcome with extreme sadness because she loved her husband, so she excuses herself from her sister and the neighbor to be alone upstairs. As the feeling of sadness passes, she becomes overwhelmed with a feeling of freedom. She is liberated from her marriage. Once she returns back downstairs, she sees her husband and learns that he has not died, so in return she dies of sudden heart attack. The oppressive nature of marriage is a reflection of that era in the 1800’s.

Chopin relates her story through an omniscient narrator, so the reader knows exactly what is going on and how Mrs. Mallard loves and does not love her husband at the same time. The narrator states, “And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not” (101). During the century of the story, women did not have strong roles as human beings. If a woman lives to thirty and is still unmarried, she is deemed as not suitable any longer. Women had to be married to gain an approved status, but they also had to obey their husbands and follow through with everything they wanted. In the late 1800’s, the only reasonably acceptable means for a woman to manage her own affairs and make her own decisions was the death of her husband. Even if the husbands treated their wives with kindness, as Mrs. Mallard had been exposed to, they were still considered emotional weak beings who were unable to handle their own affairs. Women eventually despise some aspects of their husbands when they are always supposed to agree with all of their husband’s wishes .

In the 1800’s, women had to get married young to gain their societal status, but with that their husbands became the boss of them, and also ruled over all of their possessions and decisions. The narrator uses a subtle tone to describe how liberated Mrs. Mallard feels, even though she had just lost her husband, “There will 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” (101). Now widowed, Mrs. Mallard does not have to live accordingly to anyone. Many women desired to be free from the confines of marriage and the afflictions placed upon them by the culture of those days. Chopin's story shows the repressed strength of Mrs. Mallard and the impact of society's views regarding women.

After being informed of the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard realizes that she is now free. She repeats the words, “free, free, free!” (100). Her husband did not treat her in a horrible way of any kind, but she felt free of the mandatory role she had to live among society. The moment was bittersweet for Mrs. Mallard, the narrator implies, “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (100). There was no man to repress her any longer nor any rules must she follow. Mrs. Mallard foresees the opportunity she has to live the rest of her days as she pleases. She now looks forward to a long life, which once before she dreaded because she was tired of living in her husband’s shadow. This opportunity of freedom is taken from her when she learns that her husband is still alive. When Mrs. Mallard sees her husband walk through the front door, the disillusionment and the devastation of the loss of her new future life causes her heart to fail which results in her death .

Mrs. Mallard gained freedom, individuality, and a new life in a matter of minutes, which all was then taken from her in a matter of seconds. Without her husband, she dreamt of what her new long future would hold. The thought of going back to her old life was unbearably grim, which was why she died when she saw her husband alive and well. She was killed by the disappointment of losing everything she so recently thought she had gained. The thoughts of her starting her new life as her own person was too enjoyable for her to ever want to go back to her original life. As a widow in the 1800’s, women earned the estate, the money, and the high societal status of already having been married. The oppressive nature of marriage and the roles women were expected to pursue in "The Story of an Hour" is a reflection of, though not exclusive, to the late eighteen hundreds time period.

Elisa,

This is great work and so well formatted! I would improve it by adding even more analysis—you do an excellent analysis of her relationship with her husband and her thoughts upon his death, but maybe you could also look at the symbolism of her heart disease. This is great, but you should keep pushing to find even more original and interesting details to analyze. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the poetry analysis.

Grade: 95

�These words are redundant. You can just say the setting of the story is the late 1800s.

�Good idea, but it’s not quite there as a fully developed thesis. I would say “This story’s emphasis on Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death is a reflection of the oppressive nature of marriage in that era.”

�Great analysis

�Well, some rules.

�Good theory