Indeed, Kate Chopin wrote such an interesting and teaching piece of literature that in a broader narrates and presents numerous themes with oppression and repression being the chief one. Miss Chopin based the book on the 19th century and narrated a story of a woman who feels happy after hearing the death of her husband. Then she dies when she identifies that her husband was not dead. It’s a piece of literature that in much tries to provide an analysis of the state of gender and oppression in the 19th century, a piece of literature that is rich in the essentials of true and free happiness of a woman.
The story and Analysis
The main character of the narration is Mrs. Louise Mallard. Mr. Brently Mallard, her husband, is assumed dead. When the report was taken to newspapers a friend hers comes to the knowledge of the information and goes to inform Mrs. Louse in a polite manner since she has a heart problem. After hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard, other than being sad she feels free from her husband. A husband who she loved but sometimes as not good to her. Suddenly for the reader, Mrs. Louise Mallard, shouts free, free even after feeling guilty. She became the widow due to the tragic death of her husband in a train crash. The position of the predicate of the happiness is realized by predicate words – the main carriers of the idea of happiness — “˜free’ and “˜joy’. The cause of happiness is the loss of a loved person – her husband. On the contrary to the stable representations, the source of happiness is negatively evaluated by emotions and events.
Oppression of women was common in the 19th century. The story which was written at such time, therefore foretells the oppression that women received from their husbands and society that they could feel happy when a husband dies. In the book Mrs. Mallard says that she loved her husband but he was not good at times, hence meaning that she was oppressed by her husband. Women were not allowed to take control of their lives and left to be at home hence lead to oppression of the life and lights of women. We could also could also could that Mrs. Allard was a weak willed individual who was driven by the desire of instantly controlling her life as a result of oppression. Hence, she loves the situation of freedom as she will run away from oppression and reach for her own future.
In conclusion there is a concept of happiness in the story. In the story, Mrs. Mallards’ realizes that after the first reaction of genuine grief a strange feeling comes which she cannot understand at first. Unexpectedly for herself, her mind creates a feeling of joy and happiness at the prospect of life free from someone else’s dictates. An hour later, the husband returns home. He, as it turned out, was far from the crash site. Mrs. Mallard dies as “˜the joy that kills’. The last words in this context sound particularly ambiguous. Compositional contrast images, landscape sketches, logic artistic details, comparisons, and epithets are to open the main ideas of the author. Thus, the image of happiness is very unusual in this book. According to Chopin, happiness is something elusive and subtle. It defies labeling and is manifested in the sounds, scents, colors, fills of the air. This phenomenon is able to master the man and he is hard to fight; it is a desired feeling, the elixir of life, a monstrous joy that can kill. The culmination of the story is the sudden return of the “˜dead’ husband. With his triumphant and victorious appearance Louise suddenly dies. In general, there is an ironic tone of the story, and then coupled with compassion, the cautious, optimistic, or anxious emotional triumph.