Mrs Mallard's Oppression

Coming from the time period where women had no voice and no power. Women were owned by their husbands and had little to no control over their own lives. Kate Chopin, who is considered one of the first feminist authors of the 20th century, has written a story called “The Story of an Hour”. This story is about Louise Mallard; Louis Mallard is a typical woman in 1890s that did not have much way of personal freedom within her marriage. Once she heard of her husband death in a railroad accident, she quickly realizes a new potential for her own self-identity. She felt a sense of freedom only when her husband dies. While he was alive, she is a "normal" housewife for her husband; she must obey to him, and follow his orders. Louise is now a woman of
She gives the audience a different point of view other than the characters and that leads to the only truth of Mrs. Mallard’s death.
In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard is characterized as a fragile woman who suffered from heart problems. Kate Chopin writes, “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death”(Chopin 1-2). When the news of her husband’s death was received, a family friend (Richard) and Mrs. Mallard’s sister (Josephine) were very gentle in the way they broke the news to her because of her heart condition. After the news was broken to her, it seemed she would act to her husband’s death in an ordinary way “she wept once with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arm” (Chopin 9). This tells the readers that she is truly is sad about her husbands death. Mrs. Mallard has been so used to the women duties role in the marriage, the news of her husband’s death gave her an awestruck moment of shock. The life she has known up to now will drastically change and this scared her. After grieving with her sister, Mrs. Mallard went to her
Mallard is not a bad husband when Kate Chopin writes, “She knew that she would weep again when she saw that kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (Chopin 37-39). Mrs. Mallard knows she will cry again when she sees her husband at the funeral. Mrs. Mallard’s husband did not treat her badly. The line where the writer mentioned, “tender hands folded in death” This means that the husband is not abusive at all. Mrs. Mallard’s husband was a good to her and he always looked at her very lovingly. It is the social norm of that time period that all men oppress their wives even if they do it out of kindness. Then Mrs. Mallard imagines the years ahead, which belong only to her now, and spreads her arms out joyfully with anticipation. She will be free, on her own without anyone to oppress her. Louise knows that she often felt love for her husband but tells herself that none of that matters anymore. She feels ecstatic with her a sense of