Example Analysis- New Historicism and “A Story of an Hour”
Kate Chopin was a Victorian writer; whose writing manifests her life experiences. She
was not happy with the principles of the time, because women had fewer rights, and they were
not considered equal to men. Afraid of segregation from society, people lived in a hypocritical
world full of lies; moreover, Kate Chopin was not afraid of segregation, and used her writing as a
weapon against oppression of the soul. Marriage was an oppressor to Chopin, she had been a
victim of this institution. Being a victim of marriage, Chopin's "Story of an Hour", is an
expression of her belief that, marriage is an institution that oppresses, represses, and is a source
of discontent among human beings.
The story does not begin with a sense of discontent in marriage; instead it shows that
Mrs. Mallard loved her husband: “she wept at once” upon hearing the news of her husband’s
death. She would not have grieved over someone she did not love. Even in the heat of her
passion she thinks about her lost love: “[s]he knew that she would weep again when she saw the
kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked safe with love upon her, fixed
and gray and dead” (Chopin 2). Her love may not have been the greatest love of all time, but it
was still love. Marriage was not kind to Mrs. Mallard; her life was dull and inhibiting. Marriage
oppressed her. She needed freedom, freedom to grow and do what she wanted to do, and
marriage took that away from her. Chopin didn't believe that one person should take away
another's freedom. This belief is shown in Mrs. Mallard, who loved her husband, but she loved
the idea of freedom more. For the first time, Mrs. Mallard felt free since her marriage: “Free!
Body and soul free” (Chopin 3).