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Jackeline Reyes Professor Lago English 1500 24 February 2014 A common belief among young, impatient college adults is that authors write their pieces just to write. The work doesnt embody a stand out meaning that the reader can point out. The only thing they can point out is that the work is utterly confusing. What these college students dont know is that literature can pose an argument. Although not clear at first, the reader can perform a close reading and apply the critical lenses. When applying the critical lenses, a reader is introduced to new meanings within the work. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin was written in 1894, a time in which women did not have many choices. Forced to rule by stereotypes, women didnt live for themselves but rather for and through their husbands. Chopins The Story of an Hour is inspired by realistic expectations of women in the nineteenth century. In the 1890s, the role of women in accordance to men was to show their loyalty to them. Even in the face of death, women had to be loyal to their husbands through their reactions, demeanor and how they would carry themselves throughout the ordeal. When Mrs. Mallard finds out about the death of her husband she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sisters arms (Chopin). She did what any wife would do when they found out about the death of their loved one. She cried profusely, at the thought of her love leaving her. She no longer has a youthful aura to herself, rather a dull stare in her eyes... (Chopin). Overcome with grief, she began to think of the years ahead of her. She no longer would have someone to look at her with

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that kind of love. Mrs. Mallard knew the years ahead of her would be tough as she states that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely (Chopin). Through the feminist critical lens, we see that women are portrayed as loyal and even as submissive to their husbands. Mrs. Mallard grieved, like a woman of that time should have. She thought about the tough years ahead and how she would face it without her husband. The time period of 1890, was a time period when gender roles for women were just to be pious, submissive and loyal to their husbands (Y. and Stephanie T.). So women had to worship their husbands, by means of loyalty, home tending and making them happy. Through these two lenses, my understanding of the text changed. I no longer viewed the text as just a woman who received the news of her husbands death. Rather, through the help of these two lenses, I looked at how women were looked upon to act in relation to their husbands and the time frame. I no longer just looked at it as a women crying over her loss. My new knowledge, allowed me to understand the loyalty Mrs. Mallard had to Mr. Mallard. As stereotypes try to define women today, stereotypes tried to define women in the late nineteenth century. Women were believed to be weak, emotional and dependent (Women in the Nineteenth Century). Chopin writes knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible (Chopin). Not only were women viewed as weak by the standards of the nineteenth century, factor in her hear issues and Mrs. Mallard was deemed too weak to receive the news. With her heart trouble, the news had to be gently broken to her so that she wouldnt suffer an illness. If she wasnt weak, they would have just told her. We see an emotional and distraught Mrs. Mallard sat with her head thrown back open the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, expect when a sob came up into her throat and shook her (Chopin). She becomes emotional not in the sense where tears flood, but that

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her entire body shakes. Finally in the nineteenth century, women were thought to be dependent. Chopin displays this feature in The Story of an Hour, by saying there would be no one to live for her during those coming years, she would live for herself (Chopin). Throughout the marriage, Mrs. Mallard had lived for her husband. She was a loyal house wife. Now with Mr. Mallard gone, her love, she doesnt have someone to live for anymore. She only has herself to think of. With applying the critical lens of gender, we learn that women were still stereotyped in the nineteenth century. They were thought to be delicate and dependent women were still under the male, who was the breadwinner. The historical critical lens added to my understanding of the story by also reinforcing the notion that women were behind men in emotions, strength and dependency levels. Marriage in the nineteenth century was usually between a young woman and an older man (Figure 1. Median Age at First Marriage by Sex: 1890 to 2010). To Mrs. Mallards sister and Richards, the Mallards had a good and functional marriage. They knew that because of her heart trouble and her love for Mr. Mallard that they had to soften the news to her. Yet after Mrs. Mallard is done grieving, she begins to have a sudden thought. She begins to say Free! Body and Soul! (Chopin). No longer did she have to live for her husband or be loyal to him, she could now live for herself. She could truly try to live her life for herself. She now could find a sense of herself. She had reached self-actualization. Mrs. Mallard collected herself and her sister and began to ascend downstairs with her new self, she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. (Chopin). She now claims the loss of her husband and her ability to find herself as a victory. In the late nineteenth century women were expected to give birth and stay at home (Womens History in America). Towards the end of the nineteenth century, divorce rates began to rise from the previous years (Mason). Although the Mallards relationship seemed ok,

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Mrs. Mallard hinted differently. She states and yet she has loved him sometimes. Often she had not. (Chopin). If she loved Mr. Mallard, then why did she say she often had not. Why is she casting a shadow of doubt? While looking on Angelfire for Chopins biography, I came across some interesting information that could have inspired The Story of an Hour. Chopins mother, Eliza, was married at the age of sixteen to Thomas who was thirty four years old. Thomas perished away in a train accident (Kate Chopin: A Woman Ahead of Her Time). Through the historical lens, we learned that women married older men, were thought to be useful for the home and bearing children. But the nineteenth century was beginning to change that. Divorce rates began to increase, leading love to now be a doubtful act. In the case of Mrs. Mallard, she was now free from an unpleasant marriage. To sum up, at the end of the nineteenth century women were still being stereotyped as being under the male. They were expected to be loyal, submissive and cooperative towards their husbands. Women of the nineteenth century really had no options, seeing as they were basically transferred from one man to another. They were brought up by their fathers knowing they couldnt inherit anything and that their future husbands would own them. Applying the two critical lenses of Historical and Gender allowed me to understand Chopins The Story of an Hour allowed me to see the piece in a new light. Mrs. Mallard was no longer just a sick women who had to be treated delicately by others. Mrs. Mallard was the embodiment of the nineteenth century woman, right down to the stereotypes. While to everybody the Mallards relationship looked fine, behind the scenes it was ready to crumble. With Mrs. Mallards heart trouble and the stay at home wife standard of society, she had nothing else to do other than to be loyal to her husband. This was done through the tending of the house, showing emotion as well as dependency on her husband. To a reader glancing at the pages, The Story of an Hour may just

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seem like at tale that shows an emotional women dying over her husband. But to a skilled and articulate reader, the underlying message of The Story of an Hour shows us the oppression these women faced in a world where mean won the bread and they women laid out the table.

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Works Cited Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. KateChopin. Web. 15 Feb. 2014 Figure 1. Median Age at First Marriage by Sex: 1890 to 2010. Census Bureau. (1995). Web. 15 Feb 2014. Gender in the Proceedings. Old Bailey Online. (2013). Web. 15 Feb 2014. Kate Chopin: A Woman Ahead of Her Time. AngelFire. Web. 15 Feb 2014. Mason, Mary A. The Nineteenth Century. Faqs. (2008). Web. 15 Feb. 2014. Women's History in America. WIC. (1995). Web. 15 Feb. 2014. Women in the Nineteenth Century. Ivcc.edu. (2008). Web. 15 Feb. 2014 Y., Hailey, and T. Stephanie. Sexuality in the 1890s: The Role of the Gentleman in Society. Blogspot. (2006). Web. 15 Feb. 2014.