In the nineteenth century the first wave of feminism was adopted in order to achieve equality amongst men and women.  In 1894, in the midst of the first wave of feminism, an author by the name of Kate Chopin wrote a story called, "The Story of an Hour," to express societies portrayal of women in a marriage and to express the differences in gender roles.  In the story, a women named Mrs. Mallard loses her husband in a railroad disaster and must face the reality of living without him.  In the middle of the nineteenth century, a second wave of feminism struck the United States in order to further break down social and cultural barriers, and to demolish society's social expectation of women.  In 1973, when the second wave of feminism was transforming the United States, an author named Marge Piercy wrote a poem called, "Barbie Doll," that expressed society's standards for women.  This poem is about a girl who learns the reality of beauty standards within society.  These two time periods hold two different waves of feminism that have transformed society to this day.  As time goes by year by year, society changes in ways that people might not understand.  In order to understand the transformations of cultures and communities, one can look back on previous works of literature to deepen their knowledge of that time period.  To further understand the time periods of both the first wave feminism and second wave feminism, one can refer back to the works of both Chopin and Piercy to understand the transformations that took place.  Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and Piercy's "Barbie Doll" express the transformation of society's expectations of women.

In both stories a general sense of weakness is present within both women.  During the nineteenth century when the first wave of feminism struck the United States, women were being perceived as weak and fragile.  A woman's job was to love her husband and care for him.  In Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard gets the shocking news that her husband, Brently Mallard, has passed away in a railroad disaster.  After she has been told the news she seemed to be "pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul" (Chopin 223).  She no longer had her husband to love and to care for.  She was weak and vulnerable by the fact that her husband was no longer there for her to stand by.  Physically and mentally she was broken down.  Mrs. Mallard could not survive without her husband because it was her sole purpose in life to love and care for him.  Society viewed women as weak, but when a woman loses her purpose in life she seems to become even weaker, yet as the first wave of feminism transformed into the second wave of feminism, something changed.  During this wave, as stated by Piercy, women were "healthy, tested intelligent, possessed strong arms and back, [and had an] abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity" (Piercy 7-9).  During this time period it was not marriage that had perceived women as weak, but it was societies beauty standards that had mentally weakened women.  Society had started to pinpoint what was physically wrong with a woman; her thighs are too fat, her hips are too big, and her shoulders are too manly.  Society was seeing "a fat nose on thick legs" and it caused women to question themselves (Piercy 11).  Women became insecure; a mental weakness.  They no longer thought of themselves as strong and powerful women, but instead insecure, always picking out the undesired aspects of their beauty.  During this transition from the time period of the first wave of feminism to the time period of the second wave of feminism, society changed from viewing women as physically weak, to breaking down women to the point of mental weakness.  Not only did society's view of weakness change, but also when it did change, so did the women.

During both stories there is a change in physical appearance.  Mrs. Mallard was "young, with a fair, and calm face," but that all changed when she gets the news about her husband, Brently Mallard (Chopin 223).  She went from society's image of a beautiful women, to a woman who held "a dull stare in her eyes" (Chopin 223).  A disaster took away the one thing that was helping her survive: her husband.  Society's expectations of women in a marriage instils an image in a community's mind of what women are there for during the nineteenth century, yet once a loving bond is broken, a woman loses all that she is.  In Chopin's story, Mrs. Mallard played the expected role of women in a marriage by loving Brently and caring for him, but when he dies, Mrs. Mallard is left with nothing to love or care for.  Her role in society was lost and her physical appearance changed due to the fact that she no longer had a purpose in life.  Moving on through history, during the second wave of feminism, society changed it view from a woman's expectations as a wife, to society's expectation of the physical beauty of women.  Society wanted women to be thin, have a small waist, and have nice legs.  In Piercy's "Barbie Doll," a young beautiful teen gets hit with the reality of puberty as a classmate said, "you have big nose and fat legs" (Piercy 5-6).  Once this reality strikes the young adult, she starts to become insecure, and change her physical appearance to please her classmates and society.  Society started to expect women to become the "perfect woman" with a pretty face, toned stomach, and nice legs, so she cut off her nose and legs to try to fit society's image of a women (Piercy 17).  She transformed her physical appearance to fit society's twisted image of what a woman should look like.  Throughout time the physical appearance of everybody changes as they grow older, however, in both stories, there physical appearance changed because of what society had expected from both women.  Society's expectations of women are what causes people to change.

In both stories, society wanted women to conform to what it wanted them to be.  In Chopin's story, Mrs. Mallard is only referred to as Mrs. Mallard, the wife of Brently Mallard (Chopin 223).  During the nineteenth century, men held the power and strength in a marriage while the wife was simply there to be by the husband's side when he needed.  Society's expectation in this century was to be the perfect wife and conform what what this image of a wife was.  For this reason, Mrs. Mallard was why society addressed her as solely Mrs. Mallard.  However, when she lost her husband, she came to realize that she was now free of society's expectations of her.  She was "Louis," a new and improve version of Mrs. Mallard who was independent and strong (Louis).  She did not need Brently to survive and rely on because she was now able to rely on herself.  As time passed society changed.  It no longer held an expectation of women to become the "perfect wife," but instead, created a new image of what the "perfect women" should look like.  In Piercy's poem, the young adult hit puberty and realized that society was now expected her to uphold a certain beauty standard.  She was now "advised to play coy, exhorted to become on hearty, exercise, diet, smile and wheedle" (Piercy 12-14).  She needed to become fit and healthy and was encouraged to do so.  She was a young adult who was now forced to conform to the beauty that society wanted her to look like.  In order to be beautiful she had to change.  Society's expectations of beauty caused many women to change how they looked and how they acted, diminishing the true beauty that they already held.  During the nineteenth century when the first was of feminism struck, society wanted the "perfect wife," but as women became stronger and more independent over the years, society no longer worried about women being the "perfect wife," but instead upheld a new beauty standard for women.

Death is inevitable.  Sooner or later time will pass and so will people.  In both of these stories, the women both die.  In Chopin's story, the contextual audience learns that in the end it was really Mrs. Mallard who had died, and no Brently.  After receiving the news of her husband, Mrs. Mallard was devastated, but soon realized that she was now free from Brently's control as she whispered, "Free!  Body and soul free!" (Chopin 224).  She was no longer inferior to Brently and no longer had to live up to society's expectations of women in a marriage.  However, when it was really Mrs. Mallard who had died, her wish came true as she was truly free from society's expectations.  A similar situation happened in Piercy's poem.  The young adult had changed her look and the way she acted, and eventually passed away.  She had let society control her as she had to change to fit its beauty standard, yet as she laid in her casket, she gets her wish of being beautiful as everybody around was asking, "doesn't she look pretty?" (Piercy 23).  She was finally pretty as she laid in her casket, finally fitting society's expectations of beauty.  A lot change during the centuries of the first and second waves of feminism, however, they both had happy endings.

Throughout the centuries during the first wave of feminism and the second wave of feminism, society's expectations of women changed, and this idea can be further understood by the works of literature by both Chopin and Piercy.  Society had, and still has, the ability to change cultures and communities to fit its standard of beauty, athleticism, marriage, and much more.  As the first and second waves of feminism have come and gone, we now enter the third wave of feminism that is focused on extinguishing gender role expectations and stereotypes.  With this transformation, there is also a new set of expectations and roles that society has out on women.  Throughout media women have been sexualized and portrayed as a sex symbol for years.  This was society's new expectation: the sexy woman.  As women work to abolish these expectation and stereotypes, women can only hope that they too will have a happy ending.

