Throughout history, women have struggled and fought against oppression. They were held back and weighed down by the sexist ideas of a male-dominated society that controlled cultural, economic and political ideas and structures. Between the mid-1800s and early 1900s, women became more vocal and rebuked sexism and the roles that had been defined for them. In fighting against the power of the written word, women sought a voice, equality among men, and an identity outside of their family. In many literary writings, especially by women, between the mid-1800s and early 1900s, we see symbols of oppression and the search for gender equality in society. Writing from their own experiences, without the works of Susan Glaspell, Kate Chopin, and other similar feminist authors of their time, we may not have seen a reform movement aimed at improving gender roles in a culture in which women had been eclipsed. by men.In The Story of an Hour, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman suffering from heart disease who learns of the untimely death of her husband in a train disaster. Crying instinctively as any woman is supposed to do upon learning of her husband's death, she retreats to her room to be left alone so she can collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is in conflict with the feelings and emotions that “come close to possessing her…” (Chopin 338). Unexpectedly, joy and happiness consume her with the epiphany that she is “free, free, free!” » (Chopin 338). Louise becomes more alive as she realizes that she will no longer be oppressed by marriage as many women of her time were, and hopes for a long life when only the day before, "...she had thought with a shudder that the life could... ... middle of paper ...... " Read 59.4 (2009): 22-25. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. April 19, 2014. Harris, Sharon M. “Kate Chopin.” Magill'S Survey Of American Literature, Revised Edition (2006): 1-5. Literary Reference Center Plus Web. April 19, 2014. Hedges, Elaine. “Little Things Reconsidered: “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell. »: 89. Literary reference center Plus Web. April 19, 2014. Long, Robert Emmet, “Kate Chopin”. Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-7. Literary reference Center Plus Web April 19, 2014. McDaniel, L. Bailey. “Literary Contexts in Plays: “Bagatelles” by Susan Glaspell. (2006): 1. Literary Reference Center Plus Web. April 19, 2014. Steinbeck, John. Literature “Chrysanthemums”: an introduction to reading and writing Edgar V Roberts and Robert Zweig. Pearson Longman, 2012. 416-422..