Themes of Identity and Discovery Kate Chopin, the author of “Story of an Hour”, presents themes of female self-discovery and identity. While trying to capture the beginnings of women empowerment, she was rejected multiple times before “Story of an Hour” was finally published. This short story, which is now seen as one of the staple pieces of the beginning of women’s suffrage, was called, “heartless, brutal, cruel, and inhuman.” According to the text, the main character, Louise Mallard, states in the passage that she is “free, free, free”. In the first moments of the story, Chopin showed us how the reader expected her to feel, but coming to the realization that she actually was delighted instead of sorrowful. As a reader,…show more content… As it says in the passage, “ She had died of heart disease - of the joy that kills.”, but in fact the character dies of shock. The character, Louise Mallard, finally stepped out of the dark when, “Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard… He had been far from the scene of the accident and did not even know there had been one.” The reader has insight on the matter at hand and knows that she died from shock not joy. Louise was ready to live a long shadowless life she had just wished for earlier in the passage. Without any warning, the person who kept her in the shadows was standing at the front door. No one really knows what she actually was thinking when she saw her husband, but the reader knows joy was in no way responsible for her death. Chopin gives many examples in the passage about how she felt. Which in turn, lets the audience have an inside look at how many women felt being in the background of their marriages. Therefore, some people may say that “ Story of an Hour” was heartless and brutal. But you will also find people who understand where Louise Mallard’s lack of grief was coming