What are some of the factors dealt with in this story that relate to the spirit of the age?"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," published in 1894,
occupied a time in America in which many social and cultural questions were raised.  One
of these questions, "The Woman Question," involved which roles were acceptable for
women.  The controversy was fueled by the publication of Charles Darwin's The Origin of
Species in 1892 which raised arguments on both sides:  some felt that the theory of
evolution support female assertion; others felt that the theory proved that motherhood
should be the primary role. 

In addition, the struggle for
women's franchisement had begun in 1848; and, when the 15th Amendment was passed in
1869, many feminists such as Susan B. Anthony refused to support it because it denied
women the vote.  In 1890, however, Wyoming became the first state to grant women the
vote.  But, despite all these attempts at reform, mainstream Victorian culture viewed
womens' role as that of mother and mistress of the home under the rule of her husband
and devoted to her children.

Kate Chopin, an independent
spirit herself, having grown up surrounded by smart, single, assertive women.  For
instance, her grandmother was the first woman in St. Louis to be granted a legal
separation from her husband; she raised her five children on her own while running a
successful shipping business.  When Chopin's husband died of an illness, she ran his
plantation on her own for a year, then moved back to her mother's; but, when she died,
Kate was on her own again, supporting herself and her children by
writing.

Thus, the spirit of woman is a motif of Chopin's
writing.  Knowing from her own experience that women are capable of supporting
themselves, Chopin champions these women and scorns the oppression of women in the
Victorian Age.  

Mrs. Mallard is such a woman, repressed to
the point that she has "a heart trouble."  When she first hears the report of her
husband's death, she reacts somewhat hysterically at first; then, in the privacy of her
bedroom, long repressed feelings choke their way into her throat, until she utters her
realization:  "Free!  Body and soul free!"--a realization that suggests the cruelty of
the Victorian concept that the wife is subservient to her husband and has no life
outside the family.