"The Story of an Hour" - Kate Chopin

To be perfectly honest (which of course, I ought to be since this blog is simply my thoughts), this piece seemed to be very a stereotypical feminist piece. It mostly reiterates the idea that many women of that era felt trapped by their marriages, and the roles they were expected to play as a wife. Mrs. Mallard seemed very typical in this - she had married someone she did not care for, love (at least not most of the time), or respect. And yet, her greatest complaint is that he (her husband) has authority over her. . . she resents this, and even goes so far as to call it a crime. Because this is how she views things, she is obviously relieved and even over-joyed to hear of her husband's death. That she drops dead upon discovery that he was still alive was a bit melodramatic, but I guess it does add interest. :) It also goes to show just how trapped she felt in this life.

So I'm not entirely sure what I think about this whole mindset. I guess I don't see authority as a bad thing. While a husband should definitely never abuse any authority he has over his wife, for one person to be the leader of the relatioship is only natural. If we look around us, we can see that having people in authority over others is instinctive. It's the only way order in the world can be kept. But as I think about it, the complaint of Mrs. Mallard and feminism in general is not a complaint with authority - it's a complaint that the man is always the one who has authority. I guess I see this as something that is simply part of nature - men have always taken this role. As a Christian, I can see that it's part of how God designed men and women, biologically and emotionally. It doesn't in any way make men better - if anything, it simply highlights the unique differences of men and women, allowing both to be valued for their own strengths. Is there anything wrong with a women being in authority when we are talking about a relationship between a woman and a man? I think so - but don't have the words to justify that.

This was a lot of rambling. . . I'm sure that it will come up again, so I will leave my thoughts as is and add/edit later.