Introduction
As with many of her works, Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is an impressive illustration of the growing gender equality dynamics in the 19th Century European and American world. The author’s choice of characters, semantics, and cultural context articulately captures the growing desire for freedom by the womenfolk, with many bold ones standing tall against the rigid patriarchal structures. Louise Mallard, the play’s protagonist, idealizes the typical outlier whose conflicted identity and gender role upon her husband’s alleged death opens up the lid on the ways social norms prove counterintuitive to gender equity. To capitalize on this self-awareness as a tool for gender liberty, Chopin advances the notion that freedom is a subjective and abstract element upon which the restrictive societal prejudices rest. The following paper expounds on how freedom is portrayed as an abstract, malleable, and individualized entity, how it vests on individualized effort, how it correlates with harmony, and the absolute nature it assumes in Chopin’s story.
Freedom as an Abstract, Individualized, and Malleable Entity
The situational irony that manifests when Mrs. Mallard bumps into her newly founded freedom is a solid illustration that freedom is not only abstract but also individually held and thus malleable. It is neither a coincidence nor is it surprising that Chopin let the events in the play, almost in entirety, unfold in a constrained environment – at Mrs. and Mrs. Mallard’s home. Until then, Mrs. Mallard seems to have been living fairly standard, for which every day connotes the uncelebrated and passive lives of stereotypical 19th Century women.
The act is often depicted in how they were expected to live their lives for their husbands and children, rather than fully to themselves, and the indication that Mrs. Mallard lived as “a bird in a cage” (Lihua and Chongyue 91). Similarly, Mrs. Mallard’s sister – Josephine – seemingly catches the frenzy of freedom, instantly recognizing the imminent sense of freedom that her sister needs. She then gets hysterical and screams, “Free, free, free!” as if inviting her to break free of the entanglement that the confusion had brought (Chopin 13). The author maximizes this epiphany to construct individual self-awareness as a necessary precondition to freedom. Because none of the two women has undergone a life-changing physical event, and yet they seem to have conceptualized freedom in its most potent form, it is enough to claim that freedom is truly an individual and abstract undertaking.
Freedom Rests in Individual Efforts
As a product of personal effort and individual cultivation, freedom can often be denied by one’s own making. Alarmist and insensible as it may sound, the statement is an observation of Mrs. Mallard’s judgment of her environment. She claims that “women and men oppressing one another” (Chopin 99), insinuating that the existence, or lack of it, rests on one’s consent. While she clearly understands the societal labyrinth responsible for pinning women down, the author also partially blames it back on the women for letting it happen. That is passivity breeds insensitivity and therefore uses the protagonist’s case alongside her sister to illustrate the power of making an individual effort to resist it. It can also be argued that Mrs. Mallard’s reply to her sister, “Go away. I am not making myself ill,” in consolation reflects her personal choice to define her freedom (Chopin 13).
By extension, she refuses to open the door to Josephine later in the text because she is more concerned about Mrs. Mallad’s physical condition. The concerns depict the symbolism of closing the door on her past life. Here, the short moment of paranoia that the protagonist undergoes in denial of the oppression is likened to freedom. Thus, the sharp contrast between Mrs. Mallard and her sister intentionally draws the bigger picture: women had the choice to pursue freedom or let others take it from them.
Harmony with the Immediate Environment
Freedom is consistent and in a continuum with one’s perception of the surrounding. As a master of her art, Chopin leverages techniques like vivid description and imagery to draw symbolic parallels between the events between Josephine, Mrs. Mallard, and her husband with the material environment in which the story is set. A case in point is the illustration that “The delicious breath of rain was in the air” (Chopin 12), by which a natural event (rain) is endowed with the capacity to live and breathe. Besides building a symbolic image of the setting in the reader’s mind, humanizing the event also alludes to the refreshing property of rain and its capacity to bring forth new life, which is precisely what Mrs. Mallard is looking forward to in the absence of her husband.
Similarly, she uses the scenery outside her window to elevate her feeling of independence and anticipate the coming of freedom as a new phase of life. She states, “tree that was all aquiver with the new spring,” whereby Spring connotes the beginning of a new life (Jassam and Hatif 4). It is, therefore, worth noting that freedom in The Story of an Hour is constructed as an integral part of one’s material environment. Principally, it can be restated that one cannot attain freedom if one cannot conceive it as being part of their environment. Thus, freedom must first be conceived as an abstract and individual creation.
The Cost of Freedom
Freedom is initiated with a trigger that comes at a cost. This philosophical attribute of freedom from Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is central to the self-realization through which Mrs. Mallard falls. Even more, it is still relevant to the thesis that freedom is abstract, malleable, and individually constructed since it stems from the contemplation of an isolated event – her husband’s loss. The view that freedom comes at a cost is an extension of the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy on being and nothingness. The philosophy describes human endeavor and success in personhood as resting on the individual’s willingness to give up an essential part of their meaning (Khadafi 140). In the play’s context, Mrs. Mallard contemplates the true joy of freedom without her husband: “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her….” Furthermore, this assertion appears to be a fundamental belief of the author, as seen by the reference to the self’s quest for freedom as trying to “precariously balance between submission and self-will” (Jassam and Hatif 3 ).
The momentary anticipation of freedom is mixed with the fear of losing a central part of her very being and identity. She hesitates and ponders again, “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years… A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.” (133). From the above rationale, it is fair that Chopin presents freedom as a difficult choice since it involves dropping one big thing for another, an opportunity cost with two mutually exclusive offers. Nonetheless, The Story of an Hour demonstrates that anyone fully convinced of their motive and willing to serve the cause, notwithstanding death, is justified to take the bold move and claim freedom.
Freedom could be a Disguise
The quest for Freedom in The Story of an Hour is a façade for the venting of suppressed desires and unmet expectations. This behavior is well laid out when looking at the weight of emotion shown when Mrs. Mallard realizes she has to live without some elements that make up her identity, such as a masculine figure. Wan (2009) clarifies this defining element of personal freedom by pointing out that “…in her (Mrs. Mallard’s) deep heart there is an ardent longing for freedom and female self-assertion, and beneath her reserve lies a strain of romanticism…” (168). Suffice it to say, the freedom she yearns for is implicitly driven by the anger and resentment for the things she wished for in her marriage but could not get. This viewpoint is essential in explaining her confusion on why she wants freedom, yet she feels that Brently is not an oppressor of any kind. Chopin writes,
And yet she had loved him sometimes. Often, she had not. What did it matter? What could love the mystery count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion, which was suddenly recognized as the most vital impulse of her being (139)?
The protagonist’s quest for freedom is more of a response to her impulse of self-assertion than a lack of love or hatred for his husband. She wishes she could express herself more, she burns with the desire to realize herself more, but for the lack of the capacity to have that in marriage, she yearns for freedom.
All or Nothing
Freedom has to be absolute, and one has to conceive and demand the highest form of it. Chopin is keen as to which kind of freedom should be demanded, to which she insists on all-or-nothing. To begin with, Mrs. Mallard prefers death over freedom – demonstrated in her death by ‘joy that kills’ (Chopin 222). It is not accidental that she dreamt of freedom while her husband lived, got freedom while he ‘died,’ and died while he ‘came back.’ The author attempts to eliminate any possibilities for Mrs. Mallard to negotiate for freedom with her husband and settles for her death instead. Adisa and Damir attribute Chopin’s nonnegotiating approach to freedom to the abolitionist movement and further affirm her decoration as one of her class’s most thoughtful female writers (63).
To affirm this hard stance, the author employs multiple literary and rhetorical devices to the same effect. For instance, she makes an epiphany out of the disappearance of Brentley Mallard. At this point, she realizes how open the opportunities are ripe for her to realize the freedom she has always imagined. Furthermore, the author uses repetition, as in “Free! Free! Free!” (Chopin 13). To emphasize the need at hand. Similes are also used to denote the climax of the freedom deemed proper. For example, it is said that “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (14). Combined with the hopeful tone pervasive in the play, Chopin insists that only absolute freedom is freedom.
Freedom and Ill Motives
A subtle moral lesson deeply embedded in The Story of an Hour is that freedom should not be held with malicious intention. Judging from the euphoric shouting, “Free! Free! Free!” (13), it could be argued, although with reservation, that Mrs. Mallard was excited that her husband was dead. From the surface level, this sort of call for freedom is painful in the face of sober reality, hence her untimely death just when her husband returns. While many scholars take ambivalent views on the perspective, Chongyue and Wang criticize such calls for freedom, especially in the gender emancipation campaigns (Chopin 90). They dismiss her as “a caricature of an ungrateful and unfaithful wife” (Chopin 93). Similarly, freedom held with malicious intention or in celebration of death should be diagnosed as “existential angst” (Chopin 142). Therefore, while the build-up of the tragedy in the book is not meant to mock genuine feminist calls for the liberalization of women, the wicked desire to usurp family dynamics at the expense of misfortune to menfolk is strongly discouraged.
Freedom and Social Interaction
One of the core subject matters showcased in the story is the failure to empower women in the immediate and global society, which denies them freedom. Firstly, it is essential to facilitate women’s empowerment as it propels their health and social developmental capabilities. Additionally, empowered women can live productive, fulfilled, and safe life, allowing them to attain their maximum potential. This efficient potential can translate to the current workforce, meaning that women can equalize with their male counterparts in the labor industry. However, the Story of an Hour shows how freedom is curtailed when facilitating social interactions. For instance, Louise feels the possibility of freedom and independence when she is locked from the outside world while in her room (Chopin 142). While in her room, Louise thinks about the freedom that the society outside her room denies her (Ahmetspahic and Damir 24). Additionally, her thoughts show According to Louise, if the social interactions were halted, women would enjoy liberty, allowing them to harness their full potential.
Conclusion
Chopin’s The Story of an Hour artistically paints freedom as an ideal quest for the individual. As discussed, this freedom is a personalized concept, is absolute, and comes at a high cost. The short story possesses a vital aspect of a tragedy and effectively uses it to build up the suspense that shortly follows the anti-climax. Literary devices like imagery and metaphor are handy in hammering essential home aspects of narrative like conflict and driving the theme of freedom. It would not be far from the truth to say the author used the omniscient type of narrator to give the author a full-circle view of the feelings and emotions. Essentially it is necessary to throw caution for those seeking freedom to re-examine their motivations and if they can find alternative means of resolution first before revering relationships. Generally, Mrs. Mallard depicts absolute freedom in the story; through her, the reader learns the verity that the truth shall set one free.
Works Cited
Ahmetspahic, Adisa, and Damir Kahric. “It’s a Man’s World: Re-Examination of the Female Perspective in Chopin’s ‘Desiree’s Baby’ and ‘The Story of an Hour.’” The ESSE Messenger, vol. 29, no. 1, 2020, pp. 23–70.
Chongyue, Li, and Wang Lihua. “A Caricature of an Ungrateful and Unfaithful Wife-A New Interpretation of The Story of an Hour.” English Language and Literature Studies vol. 3, no. 2, 2013, pp. 90-92.
Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. Jimcin Recordings, 1984.
Jassam, Aseel Hatif, and Hadeel Hatif. “Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour: A Feminist Discourse of a Married Woman Reclaiming Her Lost Female Identity.” Social Sciences International Research Journal vol. 6, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-5.
Khadafi, Bima Iqbal. “Feminist and Pessimist Existentialism in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”: A Systemic Functional Grammar Analysis.” Journal of English Language Studies vol. 6, no. 2, 2021, pp. 138-157.
Wan, Xuemei. “Kate Chopin’s View on Death and Freedom in The Story of an Hour.” English Language Teaching Journal vol 2. No. 4, 2009, pp. 167-170.