Forbidden Joy Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

Forbidden Joy: Women’s Struggle for Independence in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”

First-wave Feminism was a popular idea that emerged throughout the nineteenth century, as a wide range of movements by women were established to reach a common goal of equality, politically, economically, personally, and socially. In the United States, the earliest form of activism was focused on the promotion of equally agreed marriages and property rights for women. A feminist theory emerged which attempted to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining the social roles of women. During this time, writing was used as a popular way to express one’s thoughts and feelings about social culture and lifestyles.

One of the first female activists that

Chopin suggests that all marriages are inherently oppressive and uses Louise as an example. In the story, she admits that her husband was kind and loving, although she feels free when learning of his death. Louise’s thoughts revealed in her mind that lead to her eventual epiphany, reflect on the inherent oppressiveness of all marriages, by which their nature robs people of their independence. When her husband walks in the door, all of Louise’s previous thoughts of her future, self-identity, and independence are suddenly swept from under her. The forbidden joy vanishes just as quickly as it appeared, and the overwhelming sensation is too much for her heart to handle and she dies. The last line of the story tells us that when doctors arrived they claimed Louise died of heart disease, of joy that kills. Jalil Selina describes Louise’s emotions in this climatic moment at the end of the story: “When she spots her husband, Louise seems to realize in an instant not only that her husband, as a proponent of patriarchal culture, would never allow for a woman’s self-discovery, but also that she could never reverse her progress and once again take up the confinement of her former life” (219-220). Chopin wraps up the theme of the story, beginning and ending with Louise’s “heart trouble.” The ending is ironic in the sense that her heart attack isn’t caused by overpowering joy that her husband is indeed alive, but actually from the sudden absence of joy. When examining the ideology underlying Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Dr. Sabbagh and Professor Saghaei interpret the closing line of the story: “The mainstream feminist reading of the statement directs the edge of criticism against the patriarchal system (represented by the doctors) which fails to understand the