ipl-logo

Gender Norms In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

632 Words3 Pages

Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” is set in the late 1800s – a time when women were considered inferior to men. Women had traditional roles as wives and mothers. In this 19th century patriarchal society, Chopin shows us Louise Mallard, the main character, who does not comply with the female gender norms of the Victorian period. When Louise learns about the death of her husband, her reaction and the reaction of her sister and the doctor tell us a great deal about gender stereotyping during this time. Louise Mallard is described to us as “firm” and “fair. She exists in a time when women are classified as objects of beauty and property, and her heart trouble suggests that she is fragile. Louise’s initial reaction to the news of her husband’s death suggests that she is deeply saddened and grief stricken when she escapes to her bedroom. However, the reader is caught off-guard with Louise’s secret reaction to the news of her husband’s death because she contradicts the gender norm of the 19th century woman. Her contradiction to the stereotype / gender norm is displayed when she slowly reveals her inward …show more content…

She believes that Louise is very fragile because of her heart condition. As a result, she gently informs Louise of her husband’s death. When Louise locks herself in her bedroom, Josephine shows concern and worry for Louise because she believes she will make herself ill from extreme grief and keeping to herself. Josephine assumes Louise is highly emotional and distraught is reflective of typical Victorian female views on how women react and feel when faced with tragic news, especially news about the death of a husband. However, Louise contradicts the gender norm of Victorian society as she sits in her room “drinking the elixir of life” rather than grieving for her husband. She is engulfed with joy because she is happy to be free from

Show More
Related
832 Words | 4 Pages

As the mother, she plays a major role in her children’s lives. In the novella, Louise is characterized as someone who is superficial and vain. She believed that beauty was more important than anything

Read More
392 Words | 2 Pages

A lonely woman with a vicious temper, she is estranged from her father, and marries young out of a craving for love. Her marriage is not a success. The little girl of Jesse Bentley and focal character in one of the four sections of "Righteousness." Louise, feeling rejected by her dad, wedded youthful John Hardy, who turned into an effective broker. Louise, then again, remained a miserable, astringent, and savage individual, who was sincerely not able to give her child David the steady love which a youngster needs.

Read More
1161 Words | 5 Pages

Upon hearing the news, the woman wept deciding it be best to retreat to her room alone. The readers believe that Louise is upset over her husband’s death but irony is seen, “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

Read More
1657 Words | 7 Pages

Freeman starts out with describing Louisa as a quiet, graceful woman, with relation to the individual and the community this is able to show that a woman isn’t fully an individual because she cannot exercise her rights, she must not call attention to herself, she must be quiet. Then, the story progresses to show how Louisa waits fourteen years to marry Joe, while he goes off to pursue his dream while she waits faithfully at home, showing that a man’s needs are more important than a woman’s and that it really is a “man’s world”. Joe has an affair with Lily, and Lily offers to leave town, and rather than stopping her and telling Louisa the truth, he does nothing and the other two women will suffer while he gets the best of both worlds. This again echoes the previous ideas that women are less important than men.

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

Louise is hopeful, positive, and an individual whom had to leave home. Throughout the story and letters, Louise was hopeful. In Dear Miss Breed, in page 3, line 9 it says, “It was too terrible to witness the pain in people’s faces, too shameful for them to be seen in this degrading situation.” It shows how Louise can’t stand the gloomy setting and she tries to be happy, positive, and hopeful. Throughout the story, page 4, line 28, she writes, “You never realize how valuable a thing is until you experience it.”

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

Chopin indicates Louise was looking forward to the days she will be spending alone without her husband, everyday for the rest of her life. She is excited to have everything under her control especially the way she feels and acts.

Read More
303 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story, “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin, the reader learns that in the past women were imprisoned in their marriage by men. People can see the effects of a man in a marriage by the reaction of Louise Mallard to the news of her husband's death in a train accident. Some may say, that the purpose of the story is to illuminate the dangers of miscommunication, but that is only in one part of the story you have to look at the big picture of it throughout the whole story and with Mallards actions, emotions, and thought, the reader can see that it is not that at all. After hearing about her husband's death, Mallard rushes up to a room to cry in peace, but in that room she had time to think and see her future. In the time Mallard experienced

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

She knows what loss is about having lost her father and husband. B3: An important theme from this period had to do with women. Women’s right and female independence. This shows in the story when Louise learns of her husband’s death and although she is saddened, she also realizes at the same time, she is finally free.

Read More
1215 Words | 5 Pages

At first, she does start crying, but after having some time to herself, she begins to whisper “Free!” (Chopin 426). Louise understands that she has this new-found freedom from the oppression of Brently, and that is why she seems both happy and upset. Even though he loved her, he still oppressed her. This leads to the conclusion that even though Brently was kind with his “tender hands” (Chopin 426) he still had the ability to oppress his wife even if he did not mean to.

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

(pg 550) During that passage, we can see how her mind shifts after hearing word about her husband's death. These words speak to the reader, because you feel the immense pain that Louise must be feeling in these moments. She mourned, for he was kind, and tender.

Read More
547 Words | 3 Pages

Kate Chopin is a well-known for the most seminal feminist stories. “The Story of an Hour” is one such story. In this specific story, Chopin addresses many of the concerns that are central to feminism, including the determination and expression of a woman’s unique identity distinct from the identity of her husband and the right of a woman to identify and experience her own interests. Louise Mallard and Brently Mallard lived a normal life together but she felt trapped. In order to seek the freedom she wants either Mr. Mallard or Mrs. Mallard has to die.

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
518 Words | 3 Pages

She is not happy but shocked and her heart condition kills her in front of Brently. It is not because of how happy she got when Brently returned but how her freedom got taken away from her in a matter of second. If Brently is not overprotected of his wife, then she would not have died. She wants to live her life as any normal person would live despite her heart condition, but back in the old times, wife has to listen to her husband all the time. The author has made me think that Louise heart condition is going to kill her when she heard of Brently tragedy.

Read More
627 Words | 3 Pages

Chopin, an American feminist of the 20th century, takes a stand against feminism and uses this short story to call attention to this topic. The main character of this short story is named Louise Mallard, a young woman who suffers from heart trouble. The very first thing to happen in the story is that she is informed of her husband 's death from her sister Josephine. Initially Mrs. Mallard was emotional, but over time she reaped freedom and became swept away with joy. The story then takes a turn when she is informed that her husband was not dead, and instead of her being rejoiced of her husband 's return she regrets abandoning her moment of freedom and dies from a heart attack.

Read More
790 Words | 4 Pages

Therefore, it shows that despite this period of betrayal happening many years ago, it demonstrates that Louise is still has strong feelings of hurt. Interestingly,

Read More

More about Gender Norms In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

Open Document