Nineteenth century literature gave birth to a preponderance of works that centered on themes about women and their subjugation and struggle for power in the rigidly conservative society. Through literature, writers, men and women alike, pushed forth the program of inflicting change, as the 20th century began to emerge, through the social movement of women aspiring and achieving equal rights with men. .

             This was the social environment that Kate Chopin and Ernest Hemingway had been exposed to when they created their works "The Story of an Hour" and "Cat in the Rain," respectively. Both works had women as its protagonists, and implicit each story was the apparent repression and desire for freedom and power of the woman characters, the American wife and Louise Mallard. Though each woman had been put in different scenarios and social roles in life, both were characteristically repressed by their husbands. The American wife sought to attain power over her husband through the possession of a cat, the symbol of power. Louise, meanwhile, had experienced power and freedom with the death of her husband; the story of his 'false death" had only resulted to the woman"s death.

             This paper delves into the existence of repression and eventual emergence of power against women in Chopin and Hemingway"s stories. Comparative analysis of the stories led to the generalization that the women characters in the story had sought to break free from their repression through symbolism. In the American wife"s case, the cat symbolized her freedom and assertion of power as a woman, while Louise"s death had been her reaction against the threat of further subjugation when her husband Brently had lived, falsifying the news that he was dead and Louise was finally free.

             In "The story of an hour," Louise Mallard was characterized as a woman with hidden feelings of protest against her being a wife to her husband, Brently.