Possession, to have ownership over something. Whether it be an inanimate object or a person. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, takes place in a time where women, no matter their race, skin colour or heritage were treated as property rather than as a human. A wife named Louise Mallard receives news of her husband’s death. The feeling of being possessed begins to edge off of her since she then realizes that she is free. The theme of possession is reinforced in the short story “The Story of an Hour”, by the literary devices irony and foreshadowing. Right in the very beginning of the story, you’re told that Louise has a heart problem, already beginning to foreshadow that tragic event that is soon to take place. Since this was a time where women had no rights, they were also looked upon as less intelligent, more fragile (sensitive), and not as capable as a man. Louise’s sister, Josephine as well as her husband’s friend, Richards are with Louise to break her the news of her husband’s death.
Josephine wants to find a way to inform her sister without actually telling her, she tried to beat around the bush in a sense; since they did not think a woman could take such news and not act hysterically.“…great care was taken to break to her…the news of her husband’s death.”(1)
When she finally learned of the death, she acted exactly the way they did not want her to. She threw a grievous tantrum and ran off into her room alone. When a woman in the 1800’s lost her man, she was given more opportunity than a women who had not been wed; since the man provided currency, security, and the promise of a family. A woman without a husband could not do too much with her life, but a widow had more freedom. When Louise is alone, she is thinking alone to herself and she begins to realize that now that her husband is gone that Almotari 2 something will happen to her, but she is not sure of what it may be.
The loss of her husband foreshadows that there is about to a drastic change in Louise’s life since her ‘owner’ is now gone. She realized that this feeling that is coming over her is one that she craves, but she fights it back; not knowing what the outcome of embracing it may be.
When she finally accepts this feeling that came to her, she starts to feel ecstatic. The feeling is freedom. Without her man, the driver of her life, she could now be the pilot. She is now allowed to live for herself and it is what she has always wanted. Louise begins
