When was story of an hour written

The couple moved to New Orleans, where they would start both a general store and a large family. Chopin would give birth to seven children over the next nine years!

While Oscar adored his wife, he was less capable of running a business. Financial trouble forced the family to move around rural Louisiana.

In order to support herself and her children, Kate began to write to support her family. Luckily, Chopin found immediate success as a writer. Many of her short stories and novels—including her most famous novel, The Awakening— dealt with life in Louisiana.

She was also known as a fast and prolific writer, and by the end of the s she had written over stories, articles, and essays. Unfortunately, Chopin would pass away from a suspected cerebral hemorrhage in , at the age of American life was undergoing significant change in the 19th century. Technology, culture, and even leisure activities were changing.

As the world moved into the new century, American life was also changing rapidly. For instance, t he workplace was changing drastically in the s. Gone were the days where most people were expected to work at a trade or on a farm. Factory jobs brought on by industrialization made work more efficient, and many of these factory owners gradually implemented more humane treatment of their workers, giving them more leisure time than ever. Though the country was in an economic recession at this time, technological changes like electric lighting and the popularization of radios bettered the daily lives of many people and allowed for the creation of new jobs.

Notably, however, work was different for women. Working women as a whole were looked down upon by society, no matter why they found themselves in need of a job. Women who worked while they were married or pregnant were judged even more harshly. In the s, working was only for lower class women who could not afford a life of leisure.

This short story is filled with opposing forces. The themes, characters, and even symbols in the story are often equal, but opposite, of one another.

A theme is a message explored in a piece of literature. Keep reading for a discussion of the importance of each theme! Repression can happen internally and externally. For example, if a person goes through a traumatic accident, they may consciously or subconsciously choose to repress the memory of the accident itself.

Likewise, if a person has wants or needs that society finds unacceptable, society can work to repress that individual. Women in the 19th century were often victims of repression.

Given this, it becomes apparent that Louise Mallard is the victim of social repression. In their marriage, Louise is repressed. Readers see this in the fact that Brently is moving around in the outside world, while Louise is confined to her home. She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her.

A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.

But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.

A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination. And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being! Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission.

I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door. I am not making myself ill. New York: Library of America, Distel, Kristin M.

Body and Soul Free! Cambridge Scholars Publishing, , pp. Doloff, Steven. Berenji, Fahimeh Q. Diederich, Nicole. Mayer, Gary H. Shen, Dan. Jamil, S. Wan, Xuemei. Emmert, Scott D. Chen, Hui and Chang Wei. Cunningham, Mark. Miall, David S. Deneau, Daniel P. Cho, Ailee. Berkove, Lawrence I. Toth, Emily. Unveiling Kate Chopin. Benfey, Christopher. Berkeley: U of California P, Johnson, Rose M. Koloski, Bernard. Louis, where she would spend the rest of her life.

Chopin began writing fiction in She wrote about life and people in Louisiana and focused her attention on love, sex, marriage, women, and independence. She published her first novel, At Fault , in , when she was forty. The novel was well received, and she went on to publish short stories and essays addressing similar topics. She published two collections of short stories, Bayou Folk and A Night in Arcadie , and became known as a writer with a keen eye for local culture.