Power Through Freedom

Women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex. They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers and nurturers of the children. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men, society, and within a woman herself. Even though these stories were written during the 19th century when modern society treated women as second class citizens, in “The Storm” and “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin illustrates how feminine power manifests when the female characters are able to discover their freedom.

In “The Story of an Hour,” after Louise is informed of her husband’s death she goes to her room. From her room Louise describes what she sees out the window as a new spring life representing her new found freedom. Then she sits down and during that time discovers her freedom.

“There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air. Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "Free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin 39).

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...manifests when the female characters are able to discover their freedom even though these stories were written during the 19th century when modern society treated women as second class citizens.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. “The Storm.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. DiYanni Robert. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. 477-481. Print.

Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. DiYanni Robert. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. 38-41. Print.

Deneau, Daniel P. "Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour.'." Explicator 61.4 (Summer 2003): 210-213. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Vol. 110. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Oct. 2011.

Farca, Paula Anca. "Foucault informs Kate Chopin's short fiction." Academic Exchange Quarterly Spring 2007: 120+. Academic OneFile. Web. 4 Oct. 2011.