“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a story that portrays the lack of freedom of women in the 1800s. Women had no rights and had to provide for all needs of the husband. Most men thought that women were so fragile that they couldn't manage their own lives. The story is certainly a direct example of the prominent presence of oppression in the current time period. The main character of "The Story of an Hour" is a woman named Mrs. Mallard, who suffers from heart problems. The woman who learns of her husband's untimely death seeks solitude in which she proceeds to reflect on this incident and its implications. She has a life-changing/giving epiphany, and proceeds to ruin all the new hope and euphoria that had accompanied this experience when it illustrates man's dominance over woman. Since Desiree meekly accepts being ruled by Armand, and Armand regards Desiree as his possession, the master/slave relationship that exists between Armand and Desiree is undeniable. The protagonist is a white woman named Desiree of unknown origin and birth as she was found abandoned as an infant on the doorstep of an aristocrat's house. Eighteen years after her discovery, she and a fellow aristocrat, Armand Aubigny, fall in love and marry. They soon have a son, but conflict arises when it is discovered that the child is black. The young family is destroyed when the child's father, Armand, refuses to accept him. In “Desiree's Baby,” Chopin demonstrates through Armand's conflicts how weak humans conform to environmental norms. Through the ironic ending in which Armand discovers that he is the donor of the black gene, Chopin teaches the danger of being a weak individual: Armand is punished for his weakness by Desiree, a woman he once loved, who leaves despite enduring the awareness of belonging to a race that he himself hates. Chopin challenges all human beings to fight for individuality and self-esteem, so as not to fall victim to their own weaknesses. Throughout the story, Kate Chopin uses symbolism to convey her themes of race and