Through “The Story of An Hour”, Kate Chopin tried to describe what and how women, as wives, felt in their marriage life. Might you find out better ways for husbands and wives building up a happy family life.

Written by PHAM THI HOANG MY - AV30QL1

The story of an hour is a clear evidence for American woman’s fate in the past. There were no good education, no society activities, and also no freedom for woman. They seemed to be tied with the family life. They had no freedom to join any activity outside the family. In addition, they did not have the equal rights compared to their husbands in the family. Obeying their husbands was their only choice in the family. Therefore, a real happy family seemed to be not easy to find in the society at that period. The equality between wives and husbands in the family, a responsible husband, a nice wife are three most important things to make up a happy family and they will be discussed by this report.

The first and the most important thing to create a happy family is the equality between a wife and a husband. First of all, husbands and wives should respect each other. Although husbands are often the head of the family, they are not the masters in the family. They do not have the right to control their wives. They should respect their wives instead of forcing them to do these things or those things because they are husbands and wives. They are not the bosses and the servants. For example, there are many cases in the society in which the wives do not have the rights to work or take part in the outside activities because their husbands do not want them to do that. It is so unfair. Secondly, husbands and wives should share work together. Many husbands nowadays think that housework is the responsibility of their wives. However, the wives are people who take care for family. They are not the servants in the family. They can have their jobs and the rights to do anything they want. It is the case of Mrs Mallard, because she seemed not to have the right to join any outside activities, she felt like under compulsion of circumstances. That is the reason why when she heard the news that her husband died, she just felt free in both body and soul instead of feeling sorry for her husband’s death. For a happy family, there should be the equality between husbands and wives.

Another important thing in building a happy family is a husband who has responsibility for family. A responsible husband plays an important role in a happy family. The responsible husband is not the husband who always considers himself as the boss in the family. As a husband and a father in the family, he should be responsible for taking care of the family. He can also share housework with his wife. In addition, this thing makes his wife feel that how much he loves her because he understands and wants to share family responsibility with his wife. Next, the characteristic always belongs to most of husbands is dictatorial. He can not force his wife to do the things he wants. He should respect her ideas and asks her whether she likes doing that or not. It can not become a happy family if there is not a responsible husband.

Finally, a happy family can not be built if there is not a nice wife. A nice wife is the one who is not only a good wife but also a good mother. In order to perform this thing, the wife sometimes has to scrifice. For this reason, the wife has to work and earn money like the husband. However, she can not forget the responsibility of taking care of her family. The wife should know how to balance the work and the family. Moreover, the wife has to respect her husband. She should not obey blindly. She is not the subordinate of her husband. For example, Mrs Mallard in “The Story of An Hour” always obeyed her husband. She did not have her own life. That may be the reason that she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same when her husband died. The news that her husband died seemed not to be a big problem to her except the thing that she was free from the rest of her life. She was afraid of her husband. In fact, she just sometimes loved him. Therefore, a nice wife is very important to a happy family.

In brief, a happy family need to be built by both husbands and wives. It is not the responsibility of any individual in the family. There should be the equality between husbands and wives in the family. They should respect each other. The husbands are not the bosses of their wives and the wives are not also the servants of their husbands. They are equal in the family. In order to build a happy family, there are not only the responsible husbands but also the nice wives. The equality between husbands and wives, the responsible husbands and the nice wives are three important things to build up a real happy family life.