In the 19th century, first-wave feminism struck the United States.  In 1894, Kate Chopin wrote a story, "The Story of an Hour," which conveyed the battle for women's rights and equality.  In the story, a woman named Mrs. Mallard tragically loses her husband in a railroad disaster.  She was heartbroken at first, unsure of who she was anymore without standing by her husband's side.  However, she soon grasps the idea that she was now free from his control, ready to live her own, independent life by her new identity, Louise, until she realizes that it was really her who had died in the end.  Back then, in marriage, women were owned by their husbands and had little control over their own lives.  Their purpose in life was to love their husband.  Information and knowledge about marriage and feminism in the 19th century can help the readers further understand Chopin's story and create a new interpretation.  In "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard expresses the resistance of marriage roles that were expected of women.

Throughout the story, Mrs. Mallard is simply referred to Mrs. Mallard, the wife of Brently Mallard.  This indicates that Brently Mallard, the husband, has the power in their relationship.  To better understand, Dr. Kenealy states that at puberty a girl evolves into "a more delicate, beautiful, and more highly organized creature," as the boys maintain a lower evolutionary organization (Ballantyne 1286).  However, Kenealy later states that, "after seventeen the girl usually slackens her efforts ... at any rate, the boy's superior physical strength and more robust nervous system give him a staying power she does not possess (Ballantyne 1286).  This information helps the audience understand how, in time, the boys eventually overpowered the once formidable girls and were able to take control.  Women no longer obtained the strength and power that they once help during puberty, and were now inferior to men.  As the girls began to slacken their efforts and hard work, the boy's superior physicality and mentality were able to surpass those of the girl's, enabling them to become dominate.  This knowledge helps the readers recognize why Mrs. Mallard was only ever addressed as Mrs. Mallard.  However, Mrs. Mallard did not follow this standard for long.  At the end of the story, Josephine, her sister, addresses her as "Louise" now that she was free from the control of Brently Mallard (Chopin 224).  When Mrs. Mallard accepted the death of her husband, a new and free identity and sense of independence engulfed newly addressed Louise as she silently whispered to herself, "Free!  Body and soul free!" (Chopin 224).  She was free from his power and control, gaining back the strength and power she once obtained during puberty.  Louise broke the expectation of women by becoming independent and gaining a sense of self.  She was no longer Mrs. Mallard, she was Louise.  She became a strong and intelligent woman.

When Mrs. Mallards husbands dies, she goes though a period where she is both physically and mentally exhausted.  Mrs. Mallard "sank, pressed by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul" (Chopin 223).  She was distressed, tired, and fatigued after she found out her husband died.  The relationship that they had between them has taken a toll on her body.  To better understand why she felt this way, it is stated that, "women can certainly do what man does in ordinary life, but how far she can go on doing so without damage to her nervous system or her sex characteristics is quite another matter; certainly she will suffer more than a robust male and more even than the neurotic man" (Ballantyne 1286).  This helps the audience understand that when women push themselves in their work or job, like Mrs. Mallard did in loving her husband, they pay a physical and mental fee.  It wore her down into the physical exhaustion that she felt because when women push themselves, they don't have the mental and physical strength to endure the pain, so they suffer.  Mrs. Mallard suffered from the pain of losing her husband, however, it did not last long.  Instead of suffering and grieving some more, she withheld a "certain strength," and had a "suspension of intelligent thought" (Chopin 223).  She gathered her strength and came to a realization that she no longer had to endure the relationship she had with her husband.  She was able to go from a quite, broken woman, to a free and intelligent woman.  She displayed the characteristics of women to come in the future, "healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, [and had an] abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity" (Piercy 334).  She had broken the expectations of her by gaining strength instead of dwelling on her broken body and soul.  She was ready for the new life that was ahead.

When Mrs. Mallards husband died, she came to realize that she was able to live a new life, her own life.  She was free from the power and overtaking of her husband, breaking the expected role she had to withhold.  Back in time, it was said that after a woman is seventeen, she "devotes more of her time to adornment or even to coquetry" then to her efforts of knowledge and strength.  A woman's purpose in life is to care for her husband and the house.  Her main priority was loving her husband.  Mrs. Mallard dedicated her life to her husband, loving him with all the strength that she had, earning a physical and mental exhaustion when she later found out that her husband had died.  However, she came to recognize that she was granted with a new life ahead.  She was free.  She had "no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself" (Chopin 224).  There would no longer be a power holding her down, breaking and beating her both physically and mentally.  She had broken the expectation of marriage roles.  She was supposed to mourn for the lose of her husband for year to come, yet now she was living a new and enriched life.  But, when Mrs. Mallard walked down the stairs ready to start her new life, the audience gets the shocking news that it was really her who had died.  To better understand this, Doctor Berry Hart sums up that, "Nature has made woman's life on of special sacrifice, and has so tightened the bonds for this purpose that the attempt to break them and lead what some feminine leaders ingenuously believe to be the higher life of a man, can only end in that most dreadful of catastrophes  --  Nature's revenge" (Ballantyne 1286).  As said before, a woman's purpose in life is to love and care for their husband.  Nature has sacrificed all else for woman so that they can put all their attention and effort into loving their husband and cherishing all that he is.  If this loving bond is broken, Nature will take its course and have its revenge  --  death.  All in all, if this bond is broken, it will lead to death.  Mrs. Mallard broke this bond and Nature got its revenge.  She was free from her husband, and tried to live a new and carefree life, her life, but as the bond perished, so did she.

Chopin was able to express the resistance of marriage roles that were forced and expected by woman in the early 19th century in her story, "The Story of an Hour."  Mrs. Mallard was able to break free from the expectations and norms of a wife, and become a free woman named Louise.  Sadly, Mrs. Mallard died in the end due to the broken bond of love between her and her husband, however, in the years to come woman would gain the strength that Mrs. Mallard had, and live their own lives freely and independently.  Woman became strong and intelligent, breaking all of the odds that were expected during the previous years.  However, now that woman were strong and independent, society would now pressure them to become perfect and fit societies standards for women.  This would soon become second-wave feminism, the fight against societies expectations for women.

