The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
Literature is a world where writers can use their life experiences, emotions, and thoughts
to produce their great works. The era they live in, the world around them also influences their
ability to write. This causal analysis essay will look at Kate Chopin’s life and how it affected her
decision to write “The Story of An Hour”. In America in the 1890s, a woman’s work was being
the homemaker, caregiver, and mother to many. They were not bread winners, they did not have
the same opportunities as their husbands did to go out and provide for their families. They
provided by taking care of the household and making sure everyone was taken care of. Their
lives were focused on caring for their husbands, children, and home. Working women were
looked down upon by society, regardless of why they found themselves in need of work
(Robinson, 2019). During this time motherhood was what women would aspire to be. Kate
Chopin married into a wealthy family and people of her social rank was not expected to work at
all. This was the era in which Kate Chopin lived.
Kate Chopin lived and wrote in this world, and many of these issues are reflected in her
short stories. Katherine O’ Flaherty better know as Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri
was a novelist and short story writer of the 20th century. Many of the short stories written by
Kate Chopin were based on her life and deaths of those close to her. The issues of this period
dealing the independence of women and marriage are reflected in short story, “The Story of an
Hour”. Kate was not a member the woman’s suffrage movement, but she believed that women
should have greater freedoms as individuals and this she often discussed in her short stories
especially “The Story of an Hour” (Robinson, 2019). This essay will give some background
about Kate Chopin and how it has some of her life experiences are reflected in her short story
“The Story of an Hour”.
“The Story of an Hour” was published in 1894 in Vogue Magazine. The main character
in the story is Louise Mallard. She is an intelligent and independent woman and know the “right
way” for a woman to act upon hearing devastating news like this, on the inside she knows this is
all the wrong feelings. Mrs. Mallard is at home when her sister Josephine and husbands’ friend
come to tell her, her husband Brently Mallard has been killed in a railroad accident (Chopin,
2016). Upon first hearing the news Mrs. Mallard begins crying and the very grief-stricken wife,
locks herself in her bedroom. She did was any woman in her position would do, cry endlessly for
the love of her life. Mrs. Mallard acted accordingly but behind the door of her bedroom she felt
relieved and a sense of independence.
Kate Chopin and Mrs. Mallard had many similarities in this situation. After the death of
Kate Chopin’s father in 1855 who passed away in a tragic and unexpected railroad accident
(Robinson, 2019) her mother never remarried, and she spent her childhood with her mother,
grandmother, and great-grandmother who all never remarried, this becoming the basis for “The
Story of an Hour” almost forty years later and learned how important women’s independence
could be (Robinson, 2019). When Chopin married and moved to New Orleans with her husband
Oscar Chopin, she was always an independent spirit who smoked cigarettes, walked alone
through the city, argued about politics, and social problems (SparkNotes, 2022). In 1882 Oscar
Chopin passed away a sudden death from malaria. At the age of thirty-two Kate became a widow
and was not left with the responsibility of raising her six children (Chopin, 2016) and like her
mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother she never remarried.
Besides the death of Chopin’s husband, she was also in some financial trouble and she
and her children moved in with her mother. A year after her move Chopin’s mother died and to
support herself and her family she began writing (Robinson, 2019). Kate even though she had
much to deal with she was free. She no longer had to deal with her husband and the financial
troubles that he put her in. After Mrs. Mallard heard of the death of her husband she retreated to
her room and instead of continuing to cry she felt a sense of freedom. Freedom from her husband
and freedom from her marriage. Chopin like Mrs. Mallard also mourned the death of her
husband but eventually embraced her independence and even went as far as having an affair with
a married man (SparkNotes, 2022). Both women were now free from their marriages, and both
felt a sense of relief or so they thought.
Is there a difference between freedom and repression for these two women? As per
Oxford dictionary, repression is the act of subduing someone or something by force, it is the
action or process of suppressing a thought or desire in oneself so that it remains unconscious.
Chopin even though she was an independent woman she was being repressed by her husband.
She was not able to participate in the same things her husband did and during her time she was
unable to voice her opinion in any way. Mrs. Mallard like Chopin did not feel free. After hearing
about the death of her husband in that moment she felt free. It seems as if a weight was lifted
from her shoulder. Both women were no longer in repressed marriages, and they felt free.
Both Kate Chopin’s and Louise Mallard’s life are both being shaped by what and how a
woman should behave, how a wife and mother should behave. Mrs. Mallard after gathering her
thoughts and feeling free, she was shocked and in disbelief at the sight of her husband that it
brought her to her death. She suffered an untimely death but in the end she was free. Free of her
marriage and free from her husband. This short story remains one of Kate Chopin’s most-well
known works and continues to shed light on the internal struggles of women who have been
denied autonomy (Robinson, 2019).
References
Chopin, K. (2016, February 12). "The story of an hour" text. KateChopin.org. Retrieved June 21,
2022, from https://www.katechopin.org/story-hour/
Robinson, A. (2019). The story of an hour: Summary and analysis. The Story of an Hour:
Summary and Analysis. Retrieved June 21, 2022, from https://blog.prepscholar.com/katechopin-the-story-of-an-hour-summary
https://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-story-of-an-hour/context/