"Story of an Hour"

"Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin is a very absurd story. Kate Chopin is making a stand for women's rights. The main character in this story is Louise Mallard. She learns that her husband has been killed in a train crash, and immediately she is in tears. After a while she realizes that it is not as bad as she thinks it is. She realizes she is free from her husbands controlling will. Chopin writes, "There would be no powerful will bending hers"(Chopin 555). This story was written in 1894 and women had little to no rights in that time period. Mallard has a turn around in her emotions when she realizes she is free. She says, "'Free, free, free!'"(Chopin 554) Mallard obviously was not too excited about her marriage with her husband. She cared about him but she was not extremely fond of him. Chopin writes, "And yet she loved him-sometimes. Often she had not."(Chopin 555) Most likely she loved him in the beginning of their marriage, but now she was seeing her husbands true colors coming through. Chopin was showing that women wanted more from their marriages, and more from their lives in general. She was a women activist. She was making a point that women need to be treated better, and that they also deserve freedom.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was also a women rights supporter. Growing up he was parented by his mother, his father had died when he was young. In a analysis of Emerson it says, "His mother supported his family after the untimely death of his father."(Harvard) There was obviously a lot of influence of women in his life. His Aunt Marry came on "extended visits"(Harvard) very often. In the work about Emerson it says, "Emerson singed the "Declaration of Principles'"(Harvard) This was a document put forth by the National Women's Rights Convention. Emerson had strong feelings about women's rights and did not care what others thought of him.

Harvard. "Women’s Rights | Emerson - Living Legacy." Harvard Square Library. Web. 24 Feb. 2012. .

Chopin, Kate. "Story of an Hour." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.