The Story of an hour summary
Kate Chopin's the story of an hour is about the oppression of women at the hands of the society. Mrs Mallard has grown bored of her caged life. She receives the news of her husband's death from his friend Richards. A comic sequence begins from here. She wails loudly on her sister's shoulders. Afterwards she closes herself in a room and sits there alone. People think it is sorrow and anxiety. Inside she is sitting with the window open listening to the chirping of the birds enjoying the newly gained freedom. For the first time she is feeling liberated.
Chopin shows how poor and helpless women are left in a society that has kept them oppressed. Louis has just been released from captivity and she is enjoying her new status but cannot demonstrate it to people. No one must learn that she is happy to know of her husband's death. Mrs Mallard celebrates her victory for an hour in the closed room. Then Chopin reveals the irony that however best women try they are not allowed to fly beyond a limit. Mrs Mallard's flight does not last for longer than an hour. After an hour things again come back to where they had started from. Her sister keeps imploring her to open the door and when she opens and comes downstairs, her husband arrives. He was away from the site of the accident and was saved. Nothing has changed in Mrs Mallard's life and she has to be the same flightless bird again.
