Story of an Hour
I found “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin quite interesting. The story begins by mentioning that “Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble.” Immediately, I knew this was important, like a foreshadowing of what was to come, but I did not expect the twist of her heart trouble to be so ironic.
Mrs. Mallard hears of her husband’s death and begins a journey of emotions. Throughout the story, with the use of imagery you find that she is repressed in her marriage although her husband seems nice and has looked upon her with love. She does not seem to reciprocate that love all the time, and I was left to wonder why. Perhaps, she did not marry for love, but for convenience or because it was expected of woman during the 1800s or maybe she did marry for love, but because of the times, she was not free to really be herself.
Throughout the emotions that she experiences, instead of feeling a sense of loss that comes from grief, she comes to this epiphany that she is free. She feels empowered, like she finally has come into her own, free to be herself. But it was short-lived because her husband did not die. Instead, because of her heart trouble, she died when she found out her husband was alive.
I wonder if the story is symbolic of the times. In the 1800s, things were beginning to change during the Industrial Revolution, where machinery helped move jobs from farming to factories, a women’s role was beginning to change, they were beginning to work in areas where men dominated. These were steps forward. However, despite all the advances, there seems to be some steps taken backwards, just like Louise who found herself to be free, looking forward to a happy long life ahead, only for those hopes to be short-lived when her husband appears to be alive.
Would this be symbolic of the strides woman have made in the workplace, but still find themselves getting paid less than a man is for the same position?
Would this be symbolic of the strides woman have taken, that they no longer must marry because it’s what the times dictate yet I have personally noticed that in some cultures, married woman still feel subservient to their husbands, where they cannot be free to be themselves.
Great point, I agree that some cultures still have the expectation that woman be subservient to there husbands. I have also noticed that certain employers will offer a lower wage to woman candidates over male. The rationale being that a female employee might become pregnant, it would end up costing the company more to accommodate a maternity leave. This is doesn't seem fair, we should have a leveled playing field when competition for salary wages. However, if a company should offer a woman the same wage, they should also allow same time off for a paternity leave. A majority of large corporations allow 3 month maternity leave vs 2 weeks for paternity. This is true even for single male parent, who adopts a new born child, no additional time off this offered. I mean after all fair is fair.
ReplyDeleteVery valid points when it comes to woman rights and injustice especially in the 1800s when there were a lot of housewives , or what we call today "stay-at-home moms". A lot of issues back then we can still relate to today on the workforce. I never thought of it that way so thank you for introducing this idea to me. You make me want to do my blog over.
ReplyDeletealso interesting to consider as many of you are doing how the tensions in Chopin's story turn up elsewhere in other forms in the culture of the time--say in labor rights, class conflicts (an interesting comparison to Charles Dickens might be made. Is there an American parallel? Margaret Fuller? Frederick Douglass? Charles Darwin, in the sense of a challenge to scientific, religious and social convention?)
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