The Power Of Freedom By Kate Chopin - 1279 Words

Ruben Joseph Daniel Roberts EFL 095-4103 17 November 2014 The Power of Freedom An Indispensable Right There are a variety of birds that make wonderful house pets, and most of these birds don’t mind living in a cage. However, this is not the case for the cockatiel. When the cockatiel is not able to fly freely and have social interaction with other birds of its type, it becomes depressed and plucks out all of its feathers, one by one. It longs for freedom. The kind of freedom it would get out in the wild. According to Longman’s Advanced American Dictionary, the word â€Å"freedom† is defined as â€Å"the right to do what you want without being controlled or restricted by anyone â€Å"(643). There are two authors that were discussed in EFL 095 that use the†¦show more content†¦In 1894, Kate Chopin wrote â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† to describe the constraints placed on women during the 19th century. During the 19th century women didn’t have rights, their only roles were to be wives and mothers. Women didn’t have any rights to make decisions, have freedom of speech or work outside the home. It is an obstacle in the face of liberty that everyone should have, but only men reaped the benefits during this time. However, in the story, the main character, Mrs. Mallard experiences freedom for a short period of time. Mrs. Mallard receives news that her husband Bently was killed in a train accident and her sister Josephine and friend take precautions to share the news because they know it will bring on deep sorrow. In contrast, the death of her husband brings on a new feeling that others might consider inappropriate after the death of a spouse. Kate Chopin shows this in the short story: She abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: â€Å"free, free, free!† (Chopin 327). Death of a love one is expected to cause sadness, but in this case, it was for a short period of time. The premature death of Mr. Mallard causes Mrs. Mallard to start to notice the beauty of her environment, which possibly had gone unnoticed for a long time. She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all quiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of