In the story “The Story in an Hour” the author addresses various topics in her story, including female independence, oppression and marriage through his portrait of the “supposed” widow Louise Mallard in her last hour of life. After discovering that her husband has died in a train accident, Mrs. Mallard goes through several phases during her final hour. At first she is overwhelmed by grief and doesn't know what to do next. Then he gets excited and sees this as an opportunity to change his life and start over. The news that her husband is alive shakes Mrs. Mallard out of her delusion and ironically causes her to die. These thoughts and phases that Mrs. Mallard went through show the reader how much oppression women had placed on them, how much freedom they had, and the typical married life at that time. The period in which the story takes place has a great impact on women in general. The story is set at the end of the 19th century. “It was written on April 19, 1894, and first published in Vogue on December 6, 1894, under the title “The Dream of an Hour.” It was reprinted in St. Louis Life on January 5, 1895. The "Cult of Domesticity," first named and identified in the early part of the century, took place in the rural setting. The beliefs embodied in this "cult" gave women a central, passive role in the family. The role God assigned to women, she stated, was that of wife and mother, guardian of the home, guardian of the moral purity of all who lived there. (katechopin.org) Women's responsibilities were stereotyped: children had to be cared for and raised, food had to be prepared for the family, and the house had to be clean and tidy. Popular literature and progress... half of the paper... her burdens only after her husband's death. The oppression that Mrs. Mallard suffered from was not unusual for the time, as most women during that time also suffered just like Mrs. Mallard. They went through the same tribulations and carried Mrs. Mallard's burdens. “What is unexpected and sudden in the story is the opportunity and exploration of his experience of freedom, no matter how brief.” (Myriad article) She was given the chance to see a life without being someone else's property. She was able to see a future where she was finally free and able to do things she otherwise couldn't do. Understanding her unhappiness thoroughly shows Chopin's dedication to portraying the daily marital burdens women carried, the lack of independence women had from society, and the freedom from men's oppression in "The Story of an Hour".”.