Women` Inferior Status: "The Story Of An Hour" By Kate Chopin
The term “feminism” or “feminist” are what we should all be familiar with, but little do we know that these terms did not gain widespread use until the 1970s. “The Story of an Hour” – written by Kate Chopin, even before the perceptual shift in the community towards feminism – allows us to have deeper understanding about the oppression of women in the late 19th century and the incipience perception of feminism. In this essay, I would like to illuminate these ideas through the main character of the story – Mrs.Mallard.
The story begins mentioning that Mrs.Mallard has a heart trouble, which turns out to be both physical and mental disability. However, we can understand that this incapacity appears to be the result of psychological repression rather than physical frailty. After being informed about her husband’s death, Mrs.Mallard exploded with a “storm of grief”, feeling numb and totally in shock, and then there came the process of feeling lost.
Follow the character stream of consciousness, we can see that it was not long after that she realized her growing desire to be free as she whispered to herself "Free! Body and soul free!”. It might be a “monstrous joy” but was surely incredible. She thought about her husband, whose face “had never looked save with love upon her” and she knew she would weep again in his funeral, but beyond all of that, she thought of the time she will have for herself that she has been released from the shackle of marriage.
We can now fully aware of the factor that causes Mrs.Mallard’s psychological repression. Because of her husband, she must always bend for his will and had little to no control over her own life, in other words, she must live his life, not hers. Now that her husband is dead, she finally has a future and hope. This is actually the nature of marriage at that time, women were not treated as equals to men, they were forced to marry due to their dependence on the male. Men, on the other hand, even if they mean well, still have the power in relationships.
Another evidence of oppression is where the main character is called “Mrs.Mallard” instead of her name. This is actually not much different than marriages of this day. She’s got to live a few minutes of freedom, which was what she has wanted all along. It seems that her body gave her what her mind wanted, she became as stronger than ever. In the end, it was not the physical weakness which killed her but the emotional and physical strength she gained from realizing Mr.Mallard’s death meant independence, was taken away the moment her undead husband appeared.
In conclusion, “The Story of an Hour” perfectly depicts the women’ inferior status in the 19th century society and pioneers the feminist movements. Everyone, not just men, have the right to be recognized as “persons”.
