Essay: Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

A woman is craving for freedom was a popular topic during the 20th century. Kate Chopin was one of the female writers tend to be feminist, expressing her desire to be autonomous and independent. In the “Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin introduces to us Mrs. Mallard (Louise) as she reacts to the news of her husband’s death by the variety of the turmoils emotion from sadness to happiness. The “Story of an Hour” gives me a strong impression about the use of stream of consciousness by employed Mrs. Mallard throughout the story which reveals the cause of her true death.
Since hearing the news about Mr. Mallard’s death, Mrs. Mallard was cried and isolated herself in her room, which shows her tiredness, trying to escape and run away from reality. However, everything changes when she stands in front of the window. (“There stood…in the eaves”) Through this passage, Kate Chopin shows us the changes in Mrs. Mallard’s internal thought process when she stands in front of the open window. She notices all the details in the surroundings: “the delicious breath of rain,” “the notes of a distant song,” “the countless sparrows…twittering.” These individual elements of the natural environment happen in the springtime which is a symbol of rebirth. She sees the similarities between the world outside and her own life; the possibility starts to creep into her mind, coloring her own soul. She realizes that even though her husband is dead, the world is still moving on its own just like an unstoppable clock. Her emotions change dramatically, so at first, she is kind of hollowed out and empty, then she’s in a stupor. However, she takes the metaphor of a husband like a chain that confined her for a long time but now it’s over.
After the chains have broken, as she sits in her room and realizes that freedom is waiting for her outside the window. She does not immediately feeling happiness but she’s about to in this passage (“She was beginning….free, free, free!”) For the first time, she realizes that one of the outcomes of her husband’s death is that she will now live for herself instead of living for her husband. She sees her future and she sees the beauty it can be, which shows how the power of the stream of consciousness conquers the conservatism of society. There is no way which could gain her freedom besides having thought that her husband died. She will not be repressed even in those subtle ways that can happen in a relationship anymore, especially in a patriarchal culture, where a husband more authority than the wife.
(Someone was opening…the joy that kills) Nevertheless, her emotions dramatically change leading to her death when Mr. Mallard walks through the door. The doctor, as well as all family members, believe that she died because of the heart attack. Does Mrs. Mallard love someone else? and this is the reason that makes her unhappy when her husband comes back? Perhaps, this could be one of her husband’s thought, but we, as the readers who know that she died because she lost her freedom. What she thought was the beginning of her new life, quickly faded before it had to blossom. Everything she imagined, hoped for her future life crashed in that moment just like her heart crashed.
In conclusion, while the story is not long, but it covers some aspects of society from that time through the lens of Kate Chopin. The reader follows the story through of Mrs. Mallard’s stream of consciousness taking us from suffering to rescuing in Mrs. Mallard’s own life. She realizes that Mr. Mallard is still alive and any hope she has for freedom is gone. Therefore, dying is her only choice to hold onto her independence and power.