Chopin Essay
Kate Chopin: A Pioneer of Early Feminist Thought
Throughout the history of mankind, women have played a subservient role in society. It has only been very recently that women?s rights have dramatically improved. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Kate Chopin wrote literature, which espoused radical and provocative ideas about women?s role in society. Chopin?s work was groundbreaking and controversial. In ?The Story of an Hour?, Chopin relates the negative consequences resulting from society?s undermining nature toward women, to the dramatic death of Louise Mallard. At the time in which ?The Story of an Hour? is set, women were considered to be possessions belonging to their husbands. Men were expected to be the bread winners of the family, while women were charged with domestic responsibilities. The accepted belief was that women, being the ?weaker sex,? were constitutionally dependent on their husbands.
Louise Mallard is used to microcosmically represent the women of the world. Louise is portrayed as being extremely frail and is plagued by some type of heart troubles. Chopin uses Louise?s character to convey society?s view of women as being frail creatures. The truth is, that Louise breaks the mold
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