The story of an hour - Essay Example

?The story of an hour Kate Chopin, an American was known as one of the finest feminist who was able to portray emotional dilemmas dealtby female gender, in the late 19th century. Her novels and short stories carried themes of insight complexities which were often invisible at surface level. She wrote both for children and adults, her narrative styles was and still is highly regarded as one of the natural and appealing approach to observe life and jotting it down creatively. The story of an hour was published in 1894, depicts the emotional repression of a woman who is in a state of confusion and irony of married life. The insight revelation of Louise Mallard even astonished her; the sudden outburst of grief subsided and turned into pure buoyant feeling. Marriage bonded her into an inescapable duty which left her exhausted emotionally while suppressing her desires and needs. Keeping in view the role of women in late 19th century, marriage was considered as a long lasting bond which held more responsibilities on the feminine side to keep the relationship running smoothly. Culture and society didn’t approve the idea of dissatisfaction or change in companionship, as marriage was considered a sacred bond, meant to end with the death. Mrs. Mallard never shared her discontentment to any one therefore her sister Josephine took her odd behavior into the consideration as grief stricken behavior. She seemed mentally stable and sane after receiving the death news and explored inside to realize her true emotions. Freedom and independence are two key elements which can not mingle up with the idea of marriage. Hence the result is compromise and negating one’s wishes, which can cause a full volcanic eruption of emotions of anonymous kind. Mrs. Mallard as a woman in society and wife to Mr. Mallard was confined into unseen ties and boundaries. She saw her self as physically and mentally chained woman, who has to fulfill al the expectations. We don’t get a clear picture of Mr. Mallard’s relationship with Mrs. Millard to conclude it as abusive response by her. The dream to enjoy life to its fullest independently can only be a life long wish which turned her emotions completely from grief to joy. Mrs. Mallard doesn’t want to reveal her true feelings to anyone. Family and peers have some expectations and natural behavioral response from us. The pressure and impact their responses can produce are unenviable. Therefore in a close knitted family system one has to pretend according to the norms and customs of society to be considered as reasonable to all. Mrs. Mallard acts as a role model for those women, who do not lead a romantic and contended married life. They can not be called realist but pessimistic due to their sentimental swings. However, we can believe that Mrs. Mallard did not indulge her self into manual labor as the description her of physical attire tells us that she had a youthful look with smooth slender arms. Due to her weak heart she is being taken care by all the other characters, thus we can assess that none of the abuse is being done to her. She lived a financially sound and seemingly peaceful married life however her response to the news suggest that her relief is due to absence of true love for her husband. Mr. Mallard is given a minor role; we don’t get to know his true relationship with his wife how ever we can judge from his wife’s thoughts that he would have been nice to her. His role describes people who are constantly in a circular motion of financial struggle. They are engrossed in their work and striving to achieve aims so hard that they neglect unintentionally their family which leads to broken relationships and need based associations. Heart symbolizes love; Mrs. Mallard having heart troubles not only describes her unhealthy state but contains duel meaning in it. She just not was unhealthy due to weak heart but also had weak love life. Death is a fact of life, which is also a subtheme of the story. Death eventually was meant for Mrs. Mallard. All the characters are aware of her weak heart and in a subtle manner prepare for her death but Mr. Mallard’s death is a surprise to all. Death shows the relief of one companion and grief of other. Time doesn’t stop for anyone. True to its core, the story revolves around the shortest span of time in which several incidents take place and the flow of action is still on the roll till the end. As the name implies duration is only an hour in which several realizations are made and future is planned by Mrs. Mallard who wants to enjoy the freedom for the rest of her life. In fact she prays for a long life so to enjoy the independence. Mrs. Mallard the protagonist of the story is given the opportunity to explore her emotional dilemma after hearing the sad news. Now we can not call her cruel or selfish in feeling what she felt like but circumstances and physiology of love made her react in such a manner. On the other hand Josephine acts exactly as the society wants women on their time to act like. More lady like in her responses she shows considerate and caring approach showing both the ladies only in a boundary of house revels the status and role of women in society. Taking care of domestic chores and keeping the family intact and acting as guardian of children in a certain premises The restrictions and obligations brought by marriage are vaguely touched upon but we can clearly read the hidden message of the author that how some women feel tied into unwilling and less affectionate relationships due to society. The respect and status one can achieve by following a renowned society norm is unattained if followed by a wish of one’s choice. Therefore keeping the late 19th century era in mind and the impact religion and social ethics had on family life, we can easily assess the situation Mrs. Mallard was in. If we observe closely and count the factors which Mrs. Mallard made unhappy, we can see none too bothering. Her anxieties were only because of her heart which asked for freedom, carefree life which didn’t hold any compulsions. Society sets a specific pattern for all to live like. Now it all depends on social status one lives in. In this scenario we can see an obedient wife waiting for her husband to com back from work so to continue living with his designed pattern. We can also assume that Mr. Mallard is a nice man who takes care of his wife but not necessarily considerate about her wishes and aims. On the other hand Mrs. Mallard also seems like an imaginative and romanticist person. Who is financially sound but grieves inside due to lack of affection. Personal psychology is also an important factor. If a person is over sensitive about any certain emotion, it is a likely idea due to unsatisfactory feed of expression he or she may suffer a longing and may take unpredictable steps to attain it. The idea which drives the story is the reality and fantasy factor. Lack of activity can be a cause of such emotional outburst as we can observe that Mrs. Mallard has none pressurizing and time consuming activity at home and to feed her mind with the thoughts of ungrateful less. But it can also be possible due to constant restrain and long time obedience, killing her desires for others became regret and she decided to live life to its fullest. Women have always been the one who sacrifice a lot in order to keep peace in marriage life. Across the globe we can scrutinize that due to sentimental bonding and sensitive approach towards feeling they bend more frequently comparatively to men. We can see an unhappy wife who doesn’t reveal it to any one her dissatisfaction but to herself after her husband’s death. If the story is viewed from a different angle, Mr. Mallard seems the victim who is unaware of his wife’s satisfaction on his death news and has completely devoted his time to gain material means to comfort his family. Mrs. Mallard had moral and ethical responsibility towards her husband and towards society in large. So the sacrifice made by her for long time eventually ended up in her dire wish of freedom but fate was against it which lead her to an end. Only evil in this story can be feelings of gratitude and contentment felt by Mrs. Mallard. Bibliography: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/ Read More