The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and Eveline by James Joyce are the two short stories that will be analyzed using feminist criticism in this essay. Both short stories share a lot in common about what the role of women’s was perceived within the time they were written.
In the story The Story of an Hour Mrs. Louise Mallard was told that her husband’s had died from a tragic accident in a railroad and when she finally became at peace with her husband’s death he showed up and their door. She ended up the one who died at the end of the story. There are a few things in this story that can be interpreted from a feminist point of view. The first is she was introduced to the readers as Mrs. Mallard. The only time throughout the story that her name Louise was used was when she finally through she was free and could finally live her life for herself and not have to worry about following a man’s orders. This happen in the story can cause the reader to infer women really don’t have an opinion when their husband is around, so it is no really reason to use their first name to address then after they are married. After women are finally married they must hide behind the married name. Another event that can be viewed as feminist is when Mrs. Mallard was first told about her husband’s death. The passage states “she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” A reader can come to the conclusion that women are being singled out for not being able to take or even accept important news that they hear. The author could have used people generally, but Joyce decided to use the word “women” trying to make sure the reader sees that only women react the way they thought she would to t...
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...d faced many other things within her lifetime that could be analyzed as feminist criticism.
Many other things happen throughout The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and Eveline by James Joyce that can be analyze in the woman’s point of view. From the way the woman was treated to the choice they made for their life base on what was going on around them. Both women really had no opinion on how they could live their lives. Even when they had a chance to escape something happen to pull them back to that same cycle of life for women at the time both stories were written.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. ""The Story of an Hour".""The Story of an Hour". N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Meyer, Michael. "Eveline." Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, and Writing. S.l.: Bedford Bks St Martin'S, 2014. 420-23. Print.
Ego is the fall of many. In critical analysis, “Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin’s ‘Story of an Hour’”, Lawrence L. Berkove displays his view of Louise. It is evident in his article that he pays close attention to Chopin’s details of emotion. The article describes how the story forecasts the fatal ending with suspension and clues. He believes that the key to the story is “recognizing this deeper ironic level” (Berkove). Kate Chopin leaves the story up for interpretation concerning theme and the true reason for her death. Berkove, in his article, states that the theme of the story is extreme self-assertion and that feminism shines through the story.
As a forerunner of the modern feminist movement, Kate Chopin explored bold new characterizations of her female subjects. Chopin is famous for her progressive depiction of the female characters in her stories. Two such stories, 'The Storm' and 'The Story of an Hour,' examine and refute the long held ideal of the subservient wife. 'The Storm,' written in 1898 but not published until later because of its provocative content, describes the passionate extramarital affair between Calixta and Alcee, a former lover. 'The Story of an Hour' follows Louise Mallard as she deals with the death of her husband. Chopin uses the extraordinary events in the characters' lives to bring them out of the coma of submissive living. In both stories, the female protagonist awakens from a marriage-induced trance and into a state of self-awareness as a person separate from her husband.
Even with the advancement of women in society, their roles and societal expectations have not changed. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” are two stories with varied elements set in different periods in history, that show the role society has deemed as belonging to women. "The Story of an Hour" was written in the year 1894, almost a century before Kincaid wrote "Girl". However, despite the large gap in the times of the authors, a common theme emerges and that is the theme of the oppression of women and the role they are expected to assume in society.
Writing based on their own experiences, had it not been for the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement to improve gender roles in a culture in which women had been overshadowed by men. In The Story of an Hour, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman with a heart condition who learns of her husband’s untimely death in a railroad disaster. Instinctively weeping, as any woman is expected to do upon learning of her husband’s death, she retires to her room to be left alone so she may collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is conflicted with the feelings and emotions that are “approaching to possess her.”
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing.2nd ed.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Eds. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson, 2010. 261-263. Print.
...that she was a woman trapped by her own desires in a society that could not possibly have accepted such behavior.
In conclusion, “The story of an hour” is a clear depiction that women status in the society determines the choices they make about their lives. In this work, Chopin depicts a woman as a lesser being without identity or voices of their own. They are expected to remain in oppressive marriages and submit to their husbands without question.
became more opinionated and she opened the eyes to other writers in this time period to express their true feelings. Without this push and brav...
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 4th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martins, 1997. 12-15.
Chopin, Kate. A. “The Story of an Hour.” Baym 1609-1611.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Perrine's Literature: Structure Sound & Sense. 11th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2010. 541. Print.
Xuding Wang writes in her essay, Feminine Self-Assertion in “The Story of an Hour”, a strong defense for Kate Chopin’s classic work, “The Story of an Hour”. Wang provides powerful proof that one of the pioneering feminist writers had a genuine desire to push the issue of feminine inequality. Even decades later, Xuding Wang fights for the same ground as Kate Chopin before her. She focuses on critic Lawrence I. Berkove, who challenges that Louise Mallard is delusional with her personal feelings of freedom once she discovers the news that her husband has passed away. The story opens with the line “Knowing Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble” (Chopin). [1] Chopin uses allegory to describe
Koloski, Bernard. "Kate Chopin "The Story of an Hour"" Www.katechopin.org. Kate Chopin International Society, 08 Nov. 2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2013.
Kate Chopin, author of “The Story of an Hour” written in 1894 was the first author who emphasized strongly on femininity in her work. In the short story, Chopin writes about freedom and confinement Chopin is an atypical author who confronts feminist matter years before it was assumed. The time period that she wrote in women were advertised as a man’s property. The main idea in the short story is to illustrate that marriage confines women. In “The Story of an Hour” the author creates an intricate argument about freedom and confinement Mrs. Louise Mallard longing for freedom, but has been confined for so long freedom seems terrible. Mrs. Mallard wife of Brently Mallard instantly feels free when her husband dies. The reason she feels this way