The Story of An Hour

Of course we knew that Kate Chopin would never fail us in any story. Feminism and hate for the husband is always her “cup of tea”. Looking at the similarities in “The Story of An Hour” and The Awakening is very simple to see. Mrs. Mallard and Edna have not so similar qualities, but have traits that can be connected. Both are young women who resent the power of their husbands. They aim to “escape” and become “free” from the shackles that their husbands have grasped them. In the short story, Mrs. Mallard is delighted while sorrowful of the supposed death of her husband. She becomes giddy and feels that freedom has finally come to her. Edna and her only sometimes loved their husbands and the short story highlights this in Mrs. Mallard. More interesting is that both women die at the end. They both exemplify breaking points in their life where too much freedom actually takes over their bodies, and when control is reintroduced they can not handle it. The very sight of Mr. Mallard kills Mrs. Mallard. It really makes you wonder why Kate Chopin even has marriages in her stories. In the end they always end up in disaster and actually never were true marriages to begin. I have never seen such situations in my life where love never really was a part of a marriage, but yet Chopin seemed to think that’s the way it was.