“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, is a tale of enlightenment. In this story, death leads to an awakening sense of freedom within Louise Mallard. I feel this story is not a coming-of-age story, since the main character is well past that biological time, but is a story of coming-of-character...or sense of self. For the first time, Louise feels free...her womanhood feels free. Life is no longer burdened by love and …showed first 75 words of 772 total…

…showed last 75 words of 772 total…was written about a woman, and written in 1891, shows an early example of literary womanly liberation. This story reveals a change that Louise has. Ironically, this change occurs because of death, but it was this death that frees her, gives her hope, and a wonderful sense of independence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1998. 438-440.