A Feminist Perspective of Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour

A Feminist Perspective of Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin employs the tool of irony in The Story of an Hour to carefully convey the problem inherent in womens unequal role in marital relationships. Chopin develops a careful plot in order to demonstrate this idea, one not socially acceptable at the end of the 19th century, and unfortunately, a concept that still does not appreciate widespread acceptance today, 100 years later as we near the end of the 20th century. Louise Mallards death, foreshadowed in the initial line Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble takes on quite a different meaning when the plot twists and the context of her sudden death is presented unexpectedly, not upon her shock†¦show more content†¦This path begins with Chopins presentation of images of freedom as represented in Louises reflective gaze out the open window at the new spring life and the patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds. Even the authors description of Louise character She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength informs the reader that this is not a woman who will allow her husbands death inspire in her own. However, we feel the irony of her discovery in the fact that it takes the death of her husband for Louise to think freely and realize that she wants, needs, in fact cannot live without living for herself. It is important to note that the few details revealed in regards to Louises relationship with her husband are carefully constructed so the reader has no doubt as to the nature of their marriage. This union is not one filled with abuse, quite the contrary, Louise concedes that her husbands face had never looked save with love upon her. Likewise, we are not lead to believe that she is unfeeling and does not mourn his death, she knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death. However, the couples love for oneShow MoreRelatedAn Examination Of How Kate Chopin s Work1298 Words   |  6 PagesENGL 1102 – Comp/Lit Essay 2 (Mulry) Sellers, James R – 920022413 Due Date: April 20, 2015 An Examination of How Kate Chopin’s Works Taken Together Contribute to our Understanding of Her Time and the Place of Women in Society Looking at themes present in his short stories and novels, Kate Chopin presents examples of female strength and an assertive rebellion to the social norms during the late 1800s. By seeking to transparently and boldly portray the risquà © behavior of her lead characters, whichRead More Feminist Perspectives in a Story of an Hour Essay example985 Words   |  4 PagesFeminist Perspectives in a Story of an Hour A Woman Far Ahead of Her Time, by Ann Bail Howard, discusses the nature of the female characters in Kate Chopin’s novel’s and short stories. Howard suggests that the women in Chopin’s stories are longing for independence and feel torn between the feminine duties of a married woman and the freedom associated with self-reliance. Howard’s view is correct to a point, but Chopin’s female characters can be viewed as more radically feminist than HowardRead MoreThe Feminist Movement By Kate Chopin And Boys And Girls By Alice Munro1231 Words   |  5 Pagesfall into a sense of entrapment brought on by the superiority complex of men. The feminist movement, which began in the late nineteenth century, works to disprove this false perception. The movement describes a fight for political, cultural, and economic rights equal to that of men. Two short stories, â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin and â€Å"Boys and Girls† by Alice Munro, relate experiences from female perspectives, highlighting oppression against women. The authors use different techniques toRead MoreThe Life and Works of Kate Chopin1569 Words   |  6 PagesKate wrote two novels and hundreds of short stories. Few of her stories were â€Å"Story of an Hour† and â€Å"The Awakening†. One of Kate Chopins most famous stories is the Story of an Hour. In the story Chopin was brave enough to challenge the society in which she lived because in the first half of the 19th century, women were not allowed the freedoms men enjoyed in the judgments of the law, the church or the government. This famous short story showed the conflict between the social traditional requirementsRead MoreLiterary Perspectives1379 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿English september 8, 2009 Literary Perspectives The following information was excerpted from The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 8th edition, 2079–2098 Formalist critics are primarily concerned with the language, structure, and tone of a work, otherwise known, as it’s â€Å"formal elements†. Formalists gravitate towards â€Å"intrinsic† matters in a piece of literature, in simpler terms, diction, irony, paradox, metaphor, and symbol. In a similar fashion, they emphasize larger elementsRead MoreCriticism In Kate Chopins The Story Of An Hour830 Words   |  4 Pagesintroduction to any other writer with this kind of writing style to verify my assertion of Kate Chopin’s work, nonetheless Chopin does a brilliant job of exhibiting her Creole background in her work coherently. Although many may argue that modern feminism has taken a new meaning compared to its’ early beginnings. Chopin exhibited a hint of feminism through characters like Clarisse and Mrs. Mallard. In The Story of An Hour, Chopin crafted Mrs. Mallards Character as woman who seem to yearn for freedom to theRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour1921 Words   |  8 Pagesapproaches. For Kate Chopin, the famous author of â€Å"The Awakening† and â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, her most successful approach was to provide audiences with short stories that proposed meaningful and strong messages. However, Kate Chopin’s powerful feminist images that were present throughout her writing has mostly flaunted Chopin as only a â€Å"pioneering feminist writer,† which has led to other messages Chopin incorporated in her writing into being overlooked. In Kate Chopin’s, â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, the shortRead MoreKate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour Essa y2013 Words   |  9 Pages Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is a story that happens in one hour and it presents how women were viewed in the nineteenth century. The story is about a woman named Louis Mallard, who just received news that her husband has died in a train wreck. Kate Chopin is a modernist and feminist writer of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Kate Chopin has a similar life to the character in this novel because she lived through the women’s suffrage movement and her husband died at a young age. KateRead MoreImportance Of Literature : Necessities And Learning1158 Words   |  5 Pageswriting from that time, the recognition of America as a separate country and the feminist movement are among these. Considering these facts, three substantial texts of early America are more than valuable in an education, those texts being â€Å"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,† a speech by Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Jefferson’s Declara tion of Independence, and on a different note, â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† written by Kate Chopin. In light of the colonial movement, a prominent text, rather, speech whichRead MoreThe Oppressive Force in Marriage 1266 Words   |  6 Pagesnovels written by Charlotte Gilman and Kate Chopin, the concept of marriage is contradicted from the romanticized relationship to a notion of imprisonment. Through the feminist perspective the reader gains a sense in which marriage may be the primary cause to gender oppression. In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† Gilman’s central figure, who is unknown to the reader, is metaphorically imprisoned in a house in which the warden is her own husband. In contrast to this Chopin’s Character, Louise Mallard, gains a