The Importance of Freedom in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” Essay

Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† grabs its readers from the start and creates an unexpected twist at the end of the short story. Louise Mallard is given the news that her husband has died in a terrible train accident. To her surprise, he arrives home and â€Å"did not even know there had been one† (Chopin, 607). Upon the death of Louise who once believes she was a widow only to find that her husband is still alive, the confusion begins. The death of Louise is questioned by many critics as a state of shock, depression, and sadness. However, Mark Cunningham’s criticism of Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† states that her death was instead a discovery of freedom from the physical strains of her marriage with her husband and societal views on women. Cunningham argues that at the sight of her living husband, â€Å"Louise’s death lies elsewhere: in the joy† (Cunningham, 49), that she had finally escaped her marriage a nd the burdens it placed on her life. Cunningham also states that it’s possible that Louise didn’t actually even see her husband but that it doesn’t necessarily matter. Lastly, Cunningham argues that not only does she escape the strains of the marriage, but Louise also escapes society’s natural and degrading views on women and the place they hold in society. In best judgment, Cunningham does an exquisite job at defining the meaning of the significance of Louise’s death. However, I will argue that Louise Mallard’s sight of her husband is important to study because it emphasizes her desperate escape from her physically dangerous marriage, which also needs to be considered. I think emphasis should be placed on the idea of symbolism and the role it played in explaining Louise’s freedom from her marriage. It could be beneficial to ... ...opin, 607). Finally, Cunningham stated that it’s not important whether or not Louise saw her husband before she died. But, I think its important to address that she did see her husband, because this symbolizes her final stretch to freedom. Cunningham’s criticism was certainly successful in creating an understanding of why Chopin wrote the short story in the nineteenth century. Women were in a very tough place in society, but for some like Louise Mallard, there may have been other factors that made freedom such a desirable hope. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. â€Å"The Story of an Hour†. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Eds. Alison Booth & Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. 607-608. Cunningham, M. â€Å"The autonomous female self and the death of Louise Mallard in Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour.† English Language Notes. 42.1 (2004): 48-55.