The Story of an Hour

“The Story of An hour”

In the late 19th century, women were still succumbed to the hierarchy of the white man. He was ideal and expected to lead society with women at his side to respect, acknowledge, and love him. Women did not have another choice at this time, because the idea of one race empowering all was still practiced as the new century was born. As devastated as Mrs. Mallard seems in “The Story of an Hour,“ by Kate Chopin, the death of her husband revealed a whole world of happiness and freedom in her life away from societies norm. Her reaction to this tragedy, as unnatural as it seems, shows the flaws within society at the time.

At first Mrs. Mallard reacts to the news of her husbands death in the way which she is expected to react. “She wept at once…[and] went away to her room alone…”, possibly in order to reflect on these tragic news. Yet, looking through the window in her room at the view of “new spring life(5)” and the “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds(6)“ is a metaphor for her own hope of new life occurring at this moment, and that now, she can journey through life in the ways which she wants to. Mrs. Mallard finally feels “Free! Body and soul free!”(16) from societies thought of what marriage should be. This is the thought of the alpha male as sole provider and ruler of the household environment and his wife’s purpose is only in order to help continue his blood line. The fact that this issue was not acknowledged a little more than a hundred years ago mocks societies morals, but society was also accustomed to such practices. Thus it is a practice which not many people thought of acting otherwise. So once one has become the victim in this style of living he/she gain a sort of resentment towards the relationship. Mrs. Mallard proves this resentment with the thought that “she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not(15)“. With this statement she shows her understanding of what her marriage had been in the past years, and therefore has no true regret toward her husband’s death.

The realization which occurs when one learns of the death of a loved one is devastating, or so this is thought. But love between two people is possible only when each person is truly still living their life the way they want to. This means that not one person in a relationship must accommodate their whole life to another. Now a few details, of course, must be given up, but not one person in a relationship should feel imprisoned by the other. Therefore when a loved one dies one should not even think of saying: “What could love…count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized