Feminist Critique
Student Name
Professor Westrick
ENGL 1102
Month Day. Year
Professor Westrick
ENGL 1102
Month Day. Year
Kate Chopin: Feminism and The Story of an Hour
Kate Chopin was born February 8, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri. Considering the time period in which she lived and the strong feminist nature of her writings, she was extremely controversial, which lead to a lot of her work not being embraced as she intended. She did not profit much off of her writings while alive and it would not be until over a century later in the late 1960’s that her work truly started to gain mass recognition once societal norms progressed and conservative opinions laxed.
In 19th-century western cultures strict gender roles existed and were enforced to a point. Women were to remain homebound, dealing in strictly domestic affairs such as child rearing and cleaning while the men were free to chase career goals and climb social ladders (Sailus). Women were not allowed to vote and educational opportunities were severely limited, so much so that educating women seemed subversive, even (Sailus). While, it would be around the time Chopin was born in the late 19th-century that a lot of women’s rights groups began to form it would still be many decades until any actual progress was made.
It was in this very climate that Kate Chopin and her women-centric writings crash landed on a male-dominated society. A woman writing about women’s rights in 1890 hit conservative America the same way NWA did rapping about the plight of young black men in the ghetto in 1990. In “The Story of an Hour” she tells the tale of one woman, who after growing tired of living in subservience to her husband, finally gets a brief glimpse of freedom when she believes him to be dead, only to see her own flame flicker out due to what the doctors described as, “the joy that kills” (Chopin, The Story of an Hour).
The story begins as the protagonist, Louise Mallard is having the news of her husband’s passing broken to her gently, so as to not upset her pre-existing heart condition. After a brief crying spell, she goes to her room alone and following some time to herself she decides she quite enjoys the thought of being an independent woman. “She saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely,” Chopin writes, “and she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (Chopin, The Story of an Hour). These are not the words of a grieving widow but the words of a woman who discovers her independence after many years of being metaphorically shackled to her husband.
In a turn of art imitating life, Kate Chopin herself had lost her husband in 1882, leaving her with 6 kids and $12,000 in debt (Toth p. 93). Yet, instead of remaining the poor hapless widow, she briefly continued her husband’s business herself (Harris) and even carried out an affair with a married man (Toth p. 97).
Growing restless with motherhood on its own and at the request of her doctor in an attempt to remedy her depression, she began writing. Her works imbued themselves with a sense of self and identity from the perspectives of women, which was practically unheard of at the time. And much like her own life, her writings evoked a liberated view of women’s sexuality and their social status. The parallels between her life and those of her characters were evident in Louise Ballard, where both found the silver lining in the passing of their husbands.
Yet, the similarities between Chopin and her protagonist in “the Story of an Hour” may even be closer than they appear. For instance: Louise, after finally seeing her full potential being realized, dies suddenly when she discovers her husband wasn’t dead after all and she would not get the independence she dreamed of. While, this isn’t exactly what happened to Chopin in real life, she also believed she had found a sort of freedom, in her case with her writings, yet her work proved to be too ahead of the times in terms of progressiveness, causing her to be critically lampooned. Which led her to instead suffer a “creative death” not quite unlike Louise’s real one, making “the Story of an Hour” a sort of allegory of her own life: finding freedom only to have killed at the hands of the patriarchy, and in the case of her life: society’s backwards view on women causing them to reject her work.
It would be in 1969, 65 years after her death and 11 more years than she had lived, that the Complete Works of Kate Chopin was published. This would proceed the Women’s Rights & Civil Rights movements in the country, to be released right in the midst of the sexual revolution. This timing proved monumental in introducing Chopin to a generation ready and able to hear and accept what she had to say. As Edmund Wilson wrote in his forward to the Complete Works, “the 1890’s and the early 1900’s now appear, when we look back upon them, a dim period for American literature” (Chopin, The Complete Works of Kate Chopin p.12). Referring to, of course, the lack of diversity and progressive thinking at the time. As Per Seyerstead, editor of the Works, points out in his introduction, the persecution she faced in her life as a result of her writings, “affected her very deeply” (Chopin, The Complete Works of Kate Chopin p.30). “When Kate Chopin died on August 22, 1904, she was already practically forgotten,” Seyersted continued, “and since her death, less than twenty critics of any note have commented upon her writings” (Chopin, The Complete Works of Kate Chopin p.30).
That was in 1969 when Seyersted wrote his introduction to the now-classic Complete Works and ironically, even he may not have known the impact it was about to have. It’s just a shame she never lived to see her work find the appreciation it deserved, and as Per Seyersted pointed out once again, “[her works] demonstrate an independence and courage, a warm understanding, and more than a touch of artistic genius which entitle them, and their author, to a permanent place in American literature” (Chopin, The Complete Works of Kate Chopin p.33).
In 19th-century western cultures strict gender roles existed and were enforced to a point. Women were to remain homebound, dealing in strictly domestic affairs such as child rearing and cleaning while the men were free to chase career goals and climb social ladders (Sailus). Women were not allowed to vote and educational opportunities were severely limited, so much so that educating women seemed subversive, even (Sailus). While, it would be around the time Chopin was born in the late 19th-century that a lot of women’s rights groups began to form it would still be many decades until any actual progress was made.
It was in this very climate that Kate Chopin and her women-centric writings crash landed on a male-dominated society. A woman writing about women’s rights in 1890 hit conservative America the same way NWA did rapping about the plight of young black men in the ghetto in 1990. In “The Story of an Hour” she tells the tale of one woman, who after growing tired of living in subservience to her husband, finally gets a brief glimpse of freedom when she believes him to be dead, only to see her own flame flicker out due to what the doctors described as, “the joy that kills” (Chopin, The Story of an Hour).
The story begins as the protagonist, Louise Mallard is having the news of her husband’s passing broken to her gently, so as to not upset her pre-existing heart condition. After a brief crying spell, she goes to her room alone and following some time to herself she decides she quite enjoys the thought of being an independent woman. “She saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely,” Chopin writes, “and she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (Chopin, The Story of an Hour). These are not the words of a grieving widow but the words of a woman who discovers her independence after many years of being metaphorically shackled to her husband.
In a turn of art imitating life, Kate Chopin herself had lost her husband in 1882, leaving her with 6 kids and $12,000 in debt (Toth p. 93). Yet, instead of remaining the poor hapless widow, she briefly continued her husband’s business herself (Harris) and even carried out an affair with a married man (Toth p. 97).
Growing restless with motherhood on its own and at the request of her doctor in an attempt to remedy her depression, she began writing. Her works imbued themselves with a sense of self and identity from the perspectives of women, which was practically unheard of at the time. And much like her own life, her writings evoked a liberated view of women’s sexuality and their social status. The parallels between her life and those of her characters were evident in Louise Ballard, where both found the silver lining in the passing of their husbands.
Yet, the similarities between Chopin and her protagonist in “the Story of an Hour” may even be closer than they appear. For instance: Louise, after finally seeing her full potential being realized, dies suddenly when she discovers her husband wasn’t dead after all and she would not get the independence she dreamed of. While, this isn’t exactly what happened to Chopin in real life, she also believed she had found a sort of freedom, in her case with her writings, yet her work proved to be too ahead of the times in terms of progressiveness, causing her to be critically lampooned. Which led her to instead suffer a “creative death” not quite unlike Louise’s real one, making “the Story of an Hour” a sort of allegory of her own life: finding freedom only to have killed at the hands of the patriarchy, and in the case of her life: society’s backwards view on women causing them to reject her work.
It would be in 1969, 65 years after her death and 11 more years than she had lived, that the Complete Works of Kate Chopin was published. This would proceed the Women’s Rights & Civil Rights movements in the country, to be released right in the midst of the sexual revolution. This timing proved monumental in introducing Chopin to a generation ready and able to hear and accept what she had to say. As Edmund Wilson wrote in his forward to the Complete Works, “the 1890’s and the early 1900’s now appear, when we look back upon them, a dim period for American literature” (Chopin, The Complete Works of Kate Chopin p.12). Referring to, of course, the lack of diversity and progressive thinking at the time. As Per Seyerstead, editor of the Works, points out in his introduction, the persecution she faced in her life as a result of her writings, “affected her very deeply” (Chopin, The Complete Works of Kate Chopin p.30). “When Kate Chopin died on August 22, 1904, she was already practically forgotten,” Seyersted continued, “and since her death, less than twenty critics of any note have commented upon her writings” (Chopin, The Complete Works of Kate Chopin p.30).
That was in 1969 when Seyersted wrote his introduction to the now-classic Complete Works and ironically, even he may not have known the impact it was about to have. It’s just a shame she never lived to see her work find the appreciation it deserved, and as Per Seyersted pointed out once again, “[her works] demonstrate an independence and courage, a warm understanding, and more than a touch of artistic genius which entitle them, and their author, to a permanent place in American literature” (Chopin, The Complete Works of Kate Chopin p.33).
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. LSU Press, 1969. nlebk, EBSCOhost, http://ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=439113&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. 1894, https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/webtexts/hour/.
Harris, Sharon M. “Kate Chopin.” Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition, Sept. 2006, pp. 1–5. lfh, EBSCOhost, http://ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=103331MSA10589830000057&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Sailus, Christopher. “Feminism in the 19th Century: Women’s Rights, Roles, and Limits - Video & Lesson Transcript.” Study.Com, http://study.com/academy/lesson/feminism-in-the-19th-century-womens-rights-roles-and-limits.html. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.
Toth, Emily. Unveiling Kate Chopin. University Press of Mississippi, 1999, http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzI1ODcxX19BTg2?sid=f827dd82-eb03-43c3-90c8-834702e8eee5@pdc-v-sessmgr05&vid=4&format=EB&rid=6.
Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. 1894, https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/webtexts/hour/.
Harris, Sharon M. “Kate Chopin.” Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition, Sept. 2006, pp. 1–5. lfh, EBSCOhost, http://ezproxy.gsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=103331MSA10589830000057&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Sailus, Christopher. “Feminism in the 19th Century: Women’s Rights, Roles, and Limits - Video & Lesson Transcript.” Study.Com, http://study.com/academy/lesson/feminism-in-the-19th-century-womens-rights-roles-and-limits.html. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.
Toth, Emily. Unveiling Kate Chopin. University Press of Mississippi, 1999, http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzI1ODcxX19BTg2?sid=f827dd82-eb03-43c3-90c8-834702e8eee5@pdc-v-sessmgr05&vid=4&format=EB&rid=6.