"The Story of An Hour"

Kate Chopin, in her story "The Story of An Hour," explores an hour in the life of a woman who has led her life according to what her husband expected of her. Given the news of her husband's sudden death, she experiences not grief but the exhilaration of liberation. The story shows that the attitudes of men and women toward sexuality, love, and marriage stand in stark contrast, at least as far as these two characters are concerned. Chopin is at times blatant in her contrasting the two views, at times subtle, and at times so vague that there is no real difference in the views of the two sexes. Chopin is dealing with a woman who has been under the thumb of her husband, but the nature of his control goes undescribed. Nevertheless, the man is in charge in this marriage and likely in this era, and that is the fundamental message Chopin transmits in this story.

Although the story is very brief, the fate of Louise is rich with irony and her character is complex. She has led a secret inner life, conforming outwardly to her husband's desires and expectations, playing the dutiful wife. Her true character is revealed only when she believes her husband has died. Louise's story leaves many doubts and gaps. She has "heart trouble" (233), but the reader does not know its cause. Is it from the "repression" she has suffered in her marriage and which shows in her face? Clearly, from her reaction to news of her husband's death, her marriage has not been one of freedom and joy, but rather obe

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he face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!" (Chopin 234). At this hour of her life, the last hour as it turns out, Louise has little connection with or respect for love, or whatever love might be, for the thrill of sudden and unexpected liberation from marriage and from Brently has overwhelmed her. The story is not specific about the attitudes of the genders toward sexuality, but there are clear suggestions that the man is expected to set the standards for behavior in sex as in love and marriage. The repression Louise has felt, and momentarily feels liberated from, is not the repression of violence, or force, or abuse, but is the repression of having to play the role of an adored, passive, stay-at-home wife to a man active in the world, a man who may adore her but does not understand her, who supports her materially but has no appreciation for her as an independent woman, a free and creative human being. Louise's general sense of liberation is made clear in the story. She immediately imagines scenarios in which she will express and experience herself and her freedom as never before: "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would

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