ipl-logo

Essay On The Cult Of Domesticity In The Story Of An Hour

590 Words3 Pages

Alex Illetschko
Hensch
Honors Communications 10
17 January 2023
Cult of Domesticity Essays
In the 19th Century, there was a prevalent belief called the cult of domesticity. In the cult of domesticity, women were expected to stay home in the private sphere while men went out into the world to jobs in the public sphere. They were expected to have qualities such as piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Women were also believed to be physically and mentally lesser than men. Kate Chopin wrote stories during this time. Chopin wrote a famous story called “The Story of an Hour,” which showed how women felt trapped in their lives. The cult of domesticity can be shown in Kate Chopin’s life and her story, including the public and private spheres in her life and submissiveness in the story. …show more content…

When Kate Chopin’s husband died, she attempted to take over his plantation. This did not work and she was unable to run the plantation. Since Chopin was a woman, many men believed that she would fail in running the plantation of her late husband. She did fail in running the plantation and many men believed that it was because she is a woman and women do not belong in the public sphere. Another way she went against the public and private spheres is when she wrote and published many stories and books. Since she published her stories and books, she went against the expectation that women should remain in the private sphere and that the public sphere is too scary for women and should only be for men. A different way her life describes the public and private sphere is when Chopin had six children. Women were expected to stay home and take care of the house and children. Overall, Chopin both obeyed and defied the expectations of the public and private

Show More
Related
394 Words | 2 Pages

The incredibly gifted author, Kate Chopin, expresses the irony of Calixta’s marriage in her story The Storm. Women were expected to have certain roles during the 19th century, and she addresses the real truth behind women's thoughts and actions with no concern to what society thought was correct. Chopin contrasts power, class, and morals among women during the 19th century. Women having power was a topic that many were opposed to during her lifetime. In "The Storm", Chopin contrasts power between the wife and husband.

Read More
1756 Words | 8 Pages

Nineteenth century America was a time when women were expected to follow the cult of domesticity, a widely accepted opinion at the time. While fathers, brothers, sons, husbands and other male loved ones went off to fight in the American Civil War, women were left behind to take care of the remaining members of the family. “It was in the home that woman’s influence was paramount and her position assured.” For some women, this was enough, however, there were others who were not satisfied with this idea, and felt as though they were meant to become something more. However, there were some opportunities for women to step outside of the social customs and gender roles of the time.

Read More
1315 Words | 6 Pages

In the late 1800s, nearly all women were viewed as subservient, inferior, second class females that lived their lives in a patriarchal and chauvinist society. Women often had no voice, identity, or independence during that time period. Moreover, women dealt with the horrors of social norms and the gender opposition of societal norms. The primary focus and obligation for a woman to obtain during the 1800s was to serve her husband and to obey to anything he said. Since women were not getting the equality, freedom, or independence that they desired, Kate Chopin, an independent-minded female American novelist of the late 1800s expressed the horrors, oppressions, sadness, and oppositions that women of that time period went through.

Read More
616 Words | 3 Pages

When her husband walked through the front door she was so overcome with sadness that her heart couldn’t take it so she died. This shows just how bad that she was treated because she died when she found out her husband was alive. Through the use of plot twist Kate Chopin showed how women were treated unfairly throughout her

Read More
339 Words | 2 Pages

Kate Chopin is a 19th century Romantic author, whose writing style strongly reflects the era. Chopin is an oddity among her peers as writers, having grown up during the Victorian era in the United States, her writings contain more aspects akin to the Romantic era; however, Chopin depicts many Romantic themes in just one story alone, Story of an Hour. Chopin utilizes her own writing style influenced by the multiple lifestyles she experienced in life. Growing up, Chopin enjoyed a lavish lifestyle.

Read More
610 Words | 3 Pages

Kate Chopin is a well-known novelist who explores themes of gender roles, societal conventions, and social expectations in the late nineteenth century. "The Storm" and "The Cadian Ball," two of her short stories, are wonderful examples of how she confronts these topics through her writing. Both novels are set in Louisiana in the late 1800s and provide insight into the social and cultural expectations of the time. Chopin's use of the theme of social class accomplishes her goal to highlight the impact of social class on the characters in her stories and to explore the broader social and cultural contexts that influence her writing.

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

In the 19th century, a group of people launched the suffrage movement, and they cared about women’s political rights, their property and their body liberty. Born in that age, Kate Chopin was aware of the importance of setting an example for those who were taken in by the reality and poor women to be an inspiration. So we call her a forerunner of the feminist author for every effort she put in advocating women’s sexuality, their self-identity and women’s own strength. When people were ashamed of talking about sexuality, Kate Chopin stood out and call for women’s sexual autonomy.

Read More
1224 Words | 5 Pages

So, when she wrote about women defying their husband or having affairs it was an outrage. It made her writings unpopular because her ideas or realism was not accepted. Her writings came from the many influences she had, including her family as the biggest influnce. Kate Chopin was an author ahead of her time in the 1800s because of her background and experiences, influences, and being a feminist as

Read More
1248 Words | 5 Pages

Leeanna Whittle Ms. Hutto English 3-1st 26 February 2016 Gender Stereotypes as far back as the 19th Century Kate Chopin is an American author who lived in the 19th century (Wyatt). Kate Chopin is known for being way beyond her time (Evans 262). She wrote about emotions and conflicts no other author of her time would ever think to write about (Evans 262). She grew up with two powerful women, her mom and grandmother, who influenced her views on society (Wyatt).

Read More
1061 Words | 5 Pages

Chopin demonstrates not only how men treat women, but also how important it was to be white in this post-civil war era. When Armand was the head of his house, he would not let Desiree make any changes to his house. He made sure that she knew that he was the alpha male. This is the thing that Kate hated the most as a woman was having no say in any part of the world. Kate as many other woman, even though they were white, still had no say.

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

In the mid to late 1800’s women are viewed as homemakers, “Men demonstrate their dominance over women by generally confining them to the devalued registers of the home and the kitchen” (Brightwell 37). This is an era of raging patriarchy, if a woman is devoting time to something other than raising a family, she is looked down upon. Chopin emphasizes this through the social contrast between

Read More
791 Words | 4 Pages

Kate Chopin reveals how language, institutions, and expected behavior restrain the natural desires and aspirations of women in patriarchal societies. In 1894, when this story was formed, culture had its own structure on marriage and the conduct towards women. Gender roles play a major role throughout our history. They would decide whether a woman in colonial times would be allowed to join the labor

Read More
1469 Words | 6 Pages

Women in the 1890s were expected to work at home to keep their husbands comfortable and bear him children. Kate Chopin wrote most of her short stories during this time period. Her stories “A Respectable Woman” and “A Story of an Hour” show a female protagonist who want their freedom and control over their own lives. Her characters pushed the bounds of the roles that society gave them and showed the brutal reality of how women were treated in the 1890s. In “A Respectable Woman” the female protagonist Mrs. Baroda is married and lives on a plantation with her husband, who invites a friend to spend a week or two with them.

Read More
1267 Words | 6 Pages

Kate Chopin is the author of the most popular short story "The Story of an Hour". Chopin paints a bleak picture of marriage in this story. It is a short story focusing on a young married woman of the late nineteenth century as she reacts to the news that her husband has died in a train accident. The story was written in a time period when women did not really have right to express their feeling and desire. Women were supposed to stay home and take care of the family whereas the husbands went out to work.

Read More
770 Words | 4 Pages

Self-Identity and Freedom The story of an hour by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to her husband’s death. In this short story, Chopin portrays the complexity of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she is saddened yet joyful of her loss. Kate Chopin’s story argues that an individual discovers their self-identity only after being freed from confinement.

Read More

More about Essay On The Cult Of Domesticity In The Story Of An Hour

Related Topics

Open Document