The Sense of Freedom in Kate's Chopin's The Story of an Hour

Transcription

1 The Sense of Freedom in Kate's Chopin's The Story of an Hour Presented By Rabab Lefta Sultan Abstract Over the years the roles of women and their rights have drastically changed. They have been dominated, trapped, and enslaved by their marriage. Women have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and can stand on their own. Though some women are still enslaved, the rate is lesser than in the old days. The myth that women are meant to be housewives has been changed. They are now individuals seen in highly reputable places. However, this change did not happen overnight, it took years to happen. " The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin might be a short story, but it shows how women felt obligated to stay with their husbands despite the fact that they were unhappy with them. It shows the positive change that has taken over the feminine world from the eighteenth century until now. Mrs. Louise Mallard is the victim and the messenger of this story. Throughout the story Chopin describes the emotions Mrs. Mallard felt about the news of her husband's death. 50

2 ܃n ¾a تغيرت ادوار النساء و حقوقهم على مر السنين, فقد آانوا م ستعبدين و م حاصرين و م سيطر عليهم من أزواجهم. لقد تحولت النساء ببطء إلى أفرادا لهن حقوقهن الخاصة بهن. مع ذلك فان ب ع ض الن ساء ما ز لن ي ستعبدن من الرجال لكن بنسب أقل م ما آان في الماضي. تغيرت الا سطورة القاي لة إن النساء خلقوا ليكونوا ربات بيوت وإلى الا بد, هن الا ن أفرادا في الا ماآن المحترمة, على أية حال هذا التغيير ل م ي ح دث بين ليلة و ضحاها. إن " قصة ساعة " للكاتبة آيت شوبان ت ظهر آيف إن النساء ملزمات على البقاء مع أزواجهن على الرغم من حقيقة آونهن غير سعيدات. وأوضحت القصة أيضا التغيرات الايجابية التي شهدها العالم النسوي من القرن التاسع عشر إلى يومنا هذا. إن السيدة ملارد هي الضحية و الرسول في هذه القصة, من خلالها جسدت شوبان الا حاسيس التي شعرت بها السيدة ملارد عندما اخبروها بموت زوجها, و أهم هذه الا حاسيس هو إحساسها بالحرية. Introduction It is twenty-three centuries since Plato gave to the world his magnificent treatise on the State. The dream of the Greek philosopher of equal rights for all intelligent citizens, among whom he includes: women, has in large part been realized; but much is yet wanting to bring society to the standard of the Ideal Republic. In not a few States of the world, the conditions affecting property rights are inequitable; woman is still barred from the field of politics and from the legitimate rights of citizenship, and the day seems far distant when the States possessing a representative government will be prepared to accept the woman citizen as eligible for administrative positions. 1 Women's rights are entitlements and freedom claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies. Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include, though are not 51

3 limited to, the right: to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (suffrage); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to education; to serve in the military or be conscripted; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights. 2 Then there was a difference in the treatment of men and women. For instance married women were legally dead in the eyes of the law. They were not allowed to enter professions such as medicine or law, there were no chances of women getting an education, because no college or university would accept a female with only a few exceptions. 3 The Women s Rights Movement 1920, changed the way women were seen. It was caused by many factors, greatly impacted the society of the early 1900s and changed American society forever. Women were traditionally seen as the weaker sex second-class citizens with a lower social status than men. A woman s place was in home. Men did the heavier labor, like plowing and hunting. Women were expected to take care of the children, make the meals, and did the housework. Maternity was the woman s main role. The pressure of becoming a wife and mother kept some women from pursuing a college education or employment. In the United States, a man owned his wife and children. Women had been treated as if they were mentally and socially inferiors; property of the husbands. They Subdued by men for thousands of years. Only in the last hundred years restrictions on women have been lifted, when the feminist movements appeared, though the early modern feminist movements were met with animosity. 4 Literature had a great role in improving women's place in the world, some writers were mainly concerned of women's issues, they have tried to reflect women's suffering throughout the past in their works, Kate Chopin 52

4 ( ) is one of these writers She was a Victorian writer; whose writing manifests her life experiences. She was not happy with the principles of the time, because women had fewer rights, and they were not considered equal to men. Afraid of segregation from society, people lived in a hypocritical world full of lies; moreover, Kate Chopin was not afraid of segregation, and used her writing as a weapon against oppression of the soul. Marriage was an oppressor to Chopin, she had been a victim of this institution. 5 Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" is an expression of her believe that, marriage is an institution that oppresses and represses women, and it is a source of discontent among human beings. In this story Chopin illustrates the role of woman in marriage and in the society during her time. It demonstrates the issue of male dominance. There are some similarities and differences in the role of woman in marriage and in the community in 1940 s compared to the way women are treated today. And these are seen in the rights of women and in the responsibilities regarding family and marriage. 6 The American author Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in Her father, Thomas O Flaherty, died when she was five, and she spent her childhood among women: her mother, Eliza; grandmother; great-grandmother; and the nuns who ran her school. 7 Kate's great-grandmother taught her the art of story telling, from her she learned how to be a successful storyteller. Through vivid French stories, she gave Kate a taste of the culture and freedom allowed by the French that many Americans during this time disapproved of. Many of the common themes in her grandmother's stories consisted of women struggling with morality, freedom, convention, and desire. The spirit of these stories endures in Kate's own works. 8 In 1870, she married Oscar Chopin of Louisiana, The Chopins had six children in nine years, and Oscar died suddenly, she returned to St. Louis after his death. 53

5 The narrative of Kate Chopin's life is not primarily the tale of a chaste widow. Rather, it is the story of an ambitious author. She stopped following the traditional path of a woman -- and became an individual. Individuality in women is not always easy to see. Often, without even knowing what we are doing, we look for the typical, for the familiar wife-and-mother behind the dynamic career. We look for the demure belle or the suffering widow -- and see women primarily as appendages to men or as seeking the approval of men. 9 "Kate was neither a feminist nor a suffragist" 10, she said so. She was nonetheless a woman who took women extremely seriously. She never doubted women's ability to be strong. She simply had a different understanding of freedom. She saw freedom as much more a matter of spirit, soul, character of living the life within the constraints that the world makes, because all of us do live within constraints. 11 Chopin began writing fiction in She wrote about life and people in Louisiana and focused her attention on love, sex, marriage, women, and independence. She published her first novel, At Fault, in 1890, when she was forty, and she went on to publish short stories and essays addressing similar topics. She published two collections of short stories, Bayou Folk (1894) including The Story of an Hour and A Night in Arcadie (1897), she published her second novel, The Awakening In 1899,and became known as a writer with a keen eye for local culture. 12 In his 1969 biography, the critic Per Seyersted summarizes what Kate Chopin accomplished. She "broke new ground in American literature," he says: She was the first woman writer in her country to accept 54

6 passion as a legitimate subject for serious, outspoken fiction. Revolting against tradition and authority; with boldness which we can hardy fathom today; with an uncompromising honesty and no trace of sensationalism, she undertook to give the unsparing truth about woman s submerged life. She was something of a pioneer in the amoral treatment of sexuality, of divorce, and of woman s urge for an existential authenticity. She is in many respects a modern writer, particularly in her awareness of the complexities of truth and the complications of freedom. 13 Additionally, she did not limit her exploration of freedom to physical emancipation (i.e., husbands controlling wives through the traditional expectations of motherhood), but also intellectual autonomy. She didn't start her professional writing career until later in life, but the lessons she learned and the events she experienced gave her the unique insight that provided material for her stories. Unlike many of the feminist writers of her time who were mainly interested in improving the social conditions of women, she looked for an understanding of personal freedom that questioned conventional demands of both men and women

7 Bibliography Bonner, Thomas Jr. The Kate Chopin Companion. New York : Greenwood, Green, Suzanne Disheroon, and Caudle, David J.. KATE CHOPIN An Annotated Bibliography of Critical Works. Westport, Connecticut London: Greenwood Press,1999. Hecker, Eugene A.. A Short History of Women's Rights From the Days of Augustus to the Present Time. With Special Reference to England and the United States. CAMBRIDGE: MASS. August, Koloiski, Bernard. Kate Chopin: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, knights, Pamela. (OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS KATE CHOPIN: Awakening and Other Stories. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Nelson, Emmanuel S.. NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT. Greenwood Press, Per Seyersted ed., The Complete Works of Kate Chopin ( Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin : A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Up, Toth, Emily. Unveiling Kate Chopin. Jackson, MS. : University Press of Mississippi,

8 Internet Sources Dagenhart Natalia. Literary analysis: The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin < ( Feb. 20, 2011 P.1) Deter,Floramaria. " Kate Chopin: In Search of Freedom" < ( Jan.20, 32011) Hicks, Jennifer. "The Story of an Hour" (Criticism) Criticism < P. 2 Free Story of an Hour Essays: "Kate Chopin's Story of an Hour: Irony in The Story of an Hour"< > (Feb ) "Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour" < (Feb.20,2011) "On Chopin and feminism" < =education&tm=30&gps=320_397_1362_536&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=0 &zu=http%3a// (Feb. 15,2011) "The Story of the Hour by Kate Chopin: Discussing the Character Types" < _kate_chopin_pg2.html?cat=38> (Jan. 25, 2011) "The Story of an Hour" < ( Jan ) P.3 "Kate Chopin s The Story of an Hour : A Feminist Reading" < P.4 "Women's Rights" <http//: (Jan ) "Women's Suffrage From Grolier" < (jan.15,2011) "Women's Rights" <http//: (Jan ) 57

9 Notes 1 Eugene A. Hecker, A Short History of Women's Rights From the Days of Augustus to the Present Time. With Special Reference to England and the United States (CAMBRIDGE: MASS. August, 1914 P.174) 2 "Women's Rights" <http//: (Jan ) 3 "Women's Suffrage From Grolier " < (jan.15,2011) 4 "Women's Rights" <http//: (Jan ) 5 Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour < (Feb.20,2011) 6 "Women's Rights in the 1940's Illustrated in Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour" < Feb.15,2011) 7 Emmanuel S. Nelson, NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook (Westport, CT. Greenwood Press, 1997 P. 51) 8 Ibid P Suzanne Disheroon Green and David J. Caudle, KATE CHOPIN An Annotated Bibliography of Critical Works (Westport, Connecticut London: Greenwood Press, 1999 P. 4) 10 On Chopin and feminism < dn=education&tm=30&gps=320_397_1362_536&f=00&tt=14&bt=1& bts=0&zu=http%3a// (Feb. 15,2011) 11 Ibid. 12 Emmanuel S. Nelson, P Per Seyersted, Kate Chopin : A Critical Biography ( Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Up, 1969 P. 35) 58

10 14 Floramaria Deter, " Kate Chopin: In Search of Freedom" < ( Jan.20, 32011) 15 Emily Toth, Unveiling Kate Chopin (Jackson, MS. : University Press of Mississippi, 1999 P. 10) 16 Natalia Dagenhart, "Literary analysis: The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin" < ( Feb. 20, 2011 P.1) 17 "The Story of the Hour by Kate Chopin: Discussing the Character Types" by_kate_chopin_pg2.html?cat=38 (Jan. 25, 2011) 18 Per Seyersted ed., The Complete Works of Kate Chopin ( Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1969, P.788) 19 Pamela knights, OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS KATE CHOPIN: Awakening and Other Stories (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000 P. xxii) 20 Thomas Bonner Jr. The Kate Chopin Companion ( New York : Greenwood, 1988 P.201) 21 "The Story of an Hour" < story-of-an-hour/> ( Jan ) P.3 22 Kate Chopin s "The Story of an Hour": A Feminist Reading < P.4 23 Natalia Dagenhart, P.3 24 Jennifer Hicks, "The Story of an Hour (Criticism)" Criticism < P Bernard Koloiski, Kate Chopin: A Study of the Short Fiction ( New York: Twayne, 1996 P. 196) 26 Free Story of an Hour Essays: Kate Chopin's Story of an Hour: Irony in The Story of an Hour < 27 Natalia Dagenhart, P.3 28 Kate Chopin s The Story of an Hour : A Feminist Reading < P.1 59

11 The Story of an Hour "The Story of an Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin in It is about the reaction of a young woman, named Louise, to the news that her husband Brently was killed in a train wreck. Louise's sister comes to her with the news of her husband's demise. Both her sister and her husband's friend expect her to be devastated by the news, but instead she is excited at the thought of being alone and living her life. After an hour, Louise and her sister are walking down the stairs Louise's husband comes through the door causing her to have a heart attack. 15 It is an impressive literary piece which touches a reader's feelings as well as mind. Although the story is really short, it is very rich and complete, and every word in it carries deep sense and a lot of meaning. The main character and the protagonist of the story, Mrs. Mallard, experiences in her life something that not everyone has the luck to have the happiness of freedom; but the reader understands it only in the end of the story. 16 The entire story is centered on her life and the events that occur. Her character type is a dynamic character. because at the beginning she was shocked of her husband's death but she slowly started to change her mind and realize she could finally live of her own. She is the main character in the story and her change in opinion from sadness to rejoicing, is what the story revolves around. 17 At the beginning we find out that Mrs. Mallard is afflicted with heart trouble, and news about her husband's death is brought to her as gently as possible. Her sister Josephine and her husband's friend Richards, who bring this news to her, honestly believe that Mrs. Mallard would be very upset to hear it, and that it could make her even more ill. She hears of the accident through "broken 60

12 sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing" 18 The emotions she felt about the news of her husband's death were not overcome by despair or by sadness, they were something else: She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her. (p.788 ) Louise comprehends the news only later, and Chopin shows us little by little how she comes to realize it and what helps her to understand it. She goes to her room, and "there stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank" (P.788 ).Louise sits down and looks out an open window. She sees trees, smells approaching rain, and hears a peddler yelling out what he s selling. She hears someone singing as well as the sounds of sparrows, and there are fluffy white clouds in the sky. 19 These words don't appear in the story with no reason. All these details make us feel the growth of Mrs. Mallard's excitement and make us understand the sign of the meaning of the blue sky as a symbol of freedom and future life. She is young, with lines around her eyes. Still crying, she gazes into the distance. She feels apprehensive and tries to suppress the building emotions within her, but can t. She begins repeating the word "Free!" to herself over and over again. Her heart beats quickly, and she feels very warm. 20 Mrs. Mallard gets in touch with life, starts to hear sounds and to smell scents which she didn't feel before. Why? What happened? Does she really start to notice it all only after her husband's death? Yes, and Chopin gives more details, emphasizing it: She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the 61

13 face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. (P.790) Louise knows she ll cry again when she sees Brently s corpse. His hands were tender, and he always looked at her lovingly. But then she imagines the years ahead, which belong only to her now, and spreads her arms out joyfully with anticipation. She will be free, on her own without anyone to oppress her. She thinks that all women and men oppress one another even if they do it out of kindness. Louise knows that she often felt love for Brently but tells herself that none of that matters anymore. She feels ecstatic with her newfound sense of independence. 21 Louise s recognition of her liberation is at first private. She "abandon[s]" herself in a room of her own.she must not make her joy known under any circumstances. Conscious of her social duty as a widow to grieve for a year, Nevertheless, she manifests her joy publicly. 22 "there was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory"(P.791). These words show the picture of Mrs. Mallard's family life. She was unhappy with her husband; she couldn't have her own opinion and couldn't show her own will, that's why she is happy to be free! Back then society doesn't accept a divorced woman, but it accepts widows, so she looks at her widowhood as a rebirth, similar to the 'new spring outside her window. 23 Marriage was considered a sacred institution. Divorce was quite rare in the 1800s and if one was to occur, men were automatically given legal control of all property and children. So 62

14 being a widow is the only way for Mrs. Mallard to get freedom. "Free! Body and soul free! " (P.789). We read these words and share with Mrs. Mallard her feelings, her excitement and hopes. 24 At this point Mrs. Mallard's sister Josephine is looking ridiculous, with her words "Louise, open the door! you will make yourself ill." (P.790) Because practically, Mrs. Mallard, who is a woman, who has numerous years under her husband's will, finally gets an absolutely freedom, a miraculous freedom, which she even doesn't hope to get the day before. However, her sister is far from understanding it. 25 Expecting "spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own" (790), Louise grows excited and begins to fantasize about living her life for herself. With this realization, she wishes that "life might be long,"(p.790). Mrs. Mallard goes out of the room, from the first look this point of the story seems as the highest culminating moment of the whole story, this is an eerie foreshadowing for an even more unexpected ending, and here is the irony. The author prepared the main strong culmination right in the end, in three final paragraphs, as she walks down the stairs: Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife. (P.791) The reader has just accepted Louise's reaction to her husband's death, when the most unexpected happens; her husband is actually alive and he enters the room shocking everyone, and Louise especially, as she is shocked to death. The irony continues, though, because the doctors say she died of joy, when the reader 63

15 knows that she actually died because she had a glimpse of freedom and can not go back to live under her husband's will again. 26 Mrs. Mallard dies "of joy that kills" (P.791). These words carry the absolutely opposite meaning, than they read. We understand, that the doctors are wrong, thinking that she dies from happiness of seeing her husband again. She chooses rather to die than to live again under her husband's will, especially after experiencing freedom, even just for one hour. This hour in a comfortable armchair in front of the open window made her feel happy and free, makes her understand the sense of her being, and it is the only real hour of her life. 27 The equilibrium of her situation is what survives: Brently Mallard s return signals the return of her oppressive condition and ensures that Louise Mallard will experience no more than a momentary change in her situation. It is this unchanging prospect, the preservation of her oppressive condition, that proves Louise Mallard, or rather her circumstances, fatal to herself in the title, the "story" refers to that of Louise's life. She lived in the true sense of the word, with the will and freedom to live for only one hour. 28 This hour summarizes her life, her being, it is a very rich hour with all kinds of surprises and incidents. 64