Answer:
Based on what you have provided, I have looked up the story and provided 5 things that I think are important or interesting....
Explanation:
Kate Chopin wrote about and lived in American in the 1890s.
Story listed in question: Brenty Mallard has been killed in a railroad accident. When Louise finds out, she locks herself in her room and falls apart.
For some reason, she sees this as sad, but also as Freedom. She wants to live by herself and depend only on herself.
But did he really die? Here is the cool part - He arrives at the door while she is coming out from falling apart. He is not dead. She is so shocked....she dies. Dr. said it was heart disease. Story reveals it as a joy that she was feeling - now doomed - she dies. Chopin can relate to this and writes about it due to the fact that she wanted to take care of herself, but her husband really died in real life and she had to care for all of her children. But could she really do it on her own?
Another interesting thing about her story is that Chopin was very aware of the divide between the powerful and the oppressed in her society. She grew up during the Civil War. She understood what slavery was and how violent it was.
Chopin became known for her beauty. She had 7 kids in 9 years. UG.
Her now husband, Oscar, died of swamp fever in 1882. Chopin was now in debt and had to take care of her family on her own.
Chopin wrote to support her family. She was successful as a writer and wrote a lot of short stories and novels. She literally wrote over 100 stories, articles, and various essays.
She finally passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1904 and she was only 54.
The country was in recession when she was writing. Electric lights, radios, and new jobs were now available to people. Work for women was still scarce. Back then, if she would have worked when she was pregnant, this would have been considered bad in the society that she lived in.
She believed that women should have freedom as individuals.
She writes about freedom, repression, and marriage.
When writing about repression, she wrote how she felt that women's thoughts and feelings were ignored. Women were supposed to be gentle and passive - not her!
Louise, in the story, is a victim of this repression. Please see the example I gave above in how she finally dies after her husband appears....
She did not want to live by societies rules any longer. Remember that Louise did not die from being sad, but from realizing that she would not have the opportunity to be FREE.
You also need to remember that marriage back in those days was a means to control another person - man controls wife. Marriage was supposed to keep women in line with what society thought they should be like. Stay home, get pregnant, and live domestically - take care of the man.
She really wanted to show that even though marriage had been made to control women in society, she wanted to be a part of a world where she was valued as a partner.
Hope this helps....
