Attack of the Women: “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, The Emergence of Feminism

In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” a young woman in the late 1800’s named Louise Mallard, suffers from a heart condition. She is sympathetically informed by her sister, Josephine, that her husband, Brentley Mallard, has died in a tragic railroad accident. “Louise has loved her husband, who has in turn loved her and treated her kindly…” (Rosenblum 2241). Ironically, once she hears this unfortunate news, she feels free from Brentley instead of sad that he has passed away. While her sister believes that she is too grieved to come down stairs, Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room and embraces this liberty of “her life being her own again; no longer will she have to yield to her husband’s wishes” (2241). Josephine repeatedly knocks on Mrs. Mallard’s bedroom door. She wants to comfort her widowed sister in this time of uncertainty. Mrs. Mallard finally opens the door and walks down stairs with her sister. Once at the end of the steps, Brentley Mallard, unkno...