In “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin, a woman, Louise Mallard, finds out about the death of her husband, Bently Mallard.  The story was first published in 1894, which is right in the middle of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement.   Also during this time, women were seen as children in the care of their husbands.  Many people read “The Story of an Hour” and think that Louise Mallard is a cold, unloving woman who was happy that her husband had died.  She in fact had loved her husband as any wife would.  This is shown through the quote, “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” (Chopin).  This quote is showing that she knew that when she would be faced with his body, and his literal death, she would be as upset as any other widowed wife would.  The emotions she is feeling during this hour are not of the life that has been lost, rather the improvements in her life that would come about as a direct result of his death.  Mrs. Mallard lives in a time where women are ready to become equal parts of society, to have every right that a male has, but have yet to achieve this goal.  During this time period, women had no control over their own lives, which is why Louise Mallard seems to be happy upon the death of her husband, not because she hadn’t loved him, but because she would become a singular person once again.

The late nineteenth century was a time of impending social change.  Before modern times, women were viewed as children that needed to be taken care of by men (Koven).  But during the late nineteenth century the everyday woman was realizing she deserved to be seen as an equal to men in the eyes of the law.  Although women felt they were equals to men, society still did not believe this to be true.  Louise Mallard is the perfect personification of this change.  In “The Story of an Hour”, this is demonstrated through how the news of Mr. Mallard’s death is broken to Louise.  This line from Chopin’s short story depicts the great care taken to break the news to Louise, “It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing” (Chopin).  She was seen as a weak, fragile woman who needed to be taken care of, because she would not be able to take the news as a man would.  However, Mrs. Mallard soon realizes that her life may have just improved immensely.  At this point in time, once married, a woman was unable to “make contracts, devise wills, take part in other legal transactions, or control any wages they might earn” (Crumrin).  She would now be able to own her own land, make her own decisions, use her money the way she saw fit, etc.  These rights would be given to her because she hadn’t a man to take care of these things.  Marriage before the twentieth century was seen as a necessity in the eyes of society.  It is only half way through the nineteenth century when women start to realize it is not essential, but a voluntary, aspect of their lives.  As long as a woman could provide for her self, there was no necessity for marriage.  An unmarried woman or widowed, in Louise Mallard’s case, were given rights to be able to take care of themselves.  It would be almost a seventy years before it became socially acceptable for a woman to go unmarried.

Married women were seen as their husband’s wife rather than a separate person during this time period (Koven).  Once married, a woman was forced to drop her families name and take on the name of her husband.  This of course is still in practice today, but it is now a choice, that many women opt out of, rather than a fundamental part of marriage.  This rule takes a woman’s identification away and tells her all she is, is a wife. This quote depicts Louise’s eureka moment,

Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: "free, free, free!" (Chopin).

This of course shows her readiness to be free from her husband.  She needs to get away from his shadow and be come her very own person once again.  This concept is shown in “The Story of an Hour” through Louise Mallard’s name.  Through out most of the story the main character, Louise Mallard, is only known as Mrs. Mallard.  It isn’t until the fifteenth out of twenty paragraphs that we learn her given name is Louise.  This is also just about the time in the story in which she realizes what the death of her husband means.  This quote, “There would be no one to live for during those coming years” (Chopin) shows the life that Louise had been living.  She had been working in the house trying to live for her husband.  As many women of this time period, and before, were forced to do.  

The main right that women were trying to achieve to be able to be considered to be equal to men was the right to vote.  At this point in time women were not allowed to vote.  Five years before this story was published, the first official woman ran for president of the United States.  Belva Ann Lockwood was the 1884 Equal Rights Party’s presidential candidate (Koven).  This is just another representation of how Louise Mallard was feeling during this story.  Louise could not choose what happened with her life, but she could be in charge of her life, if her husband dies.  Women could not choose who could run the country, but Belva Lockwood could have run the country if she had gotten elected.  In Chopin’s short story, she literally describes the emotions that Louise is feeling, but it also sounds like she is describing women’s right to vote.

There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air. (Chopin).

It seems that Kate Chopin, the author of “The Story of an Hour”, is showing the on coming revolution for equal rights. This did scare many women during this time (Koven), as the “something” scares Louise at first.  Soon Louise became open to this “something”, just as many women were ready for the right to vote.  Of course, it would be another 26 years, in 1920, before the Nineteenth Amendment to our Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote.

As you can see, this time period, was a time in which women were realizing that they were just as good as men.  They were still being treated as perpetual juveniles, even though they were ready to become the full fledge citizens that they were.  Louise Mallard was treated as a child and as a part of her husband, but without him she could become more independent and make her own life choices.  The right to vote is a symbol of these feelings.  Women did not want their husbands to have to die for them to become their own person, but at this time, that was the only way it could happen.  Women had absolutely no control over their lives, whether that be financial, social, or political control.  With the death of her husband, Louise would take back both her financial and social independence, but she could not take back her political control.  This is why the right to vote for women became so important.  They wanted to take back control, starting with what seemed to be unachievable.  
