Quotation: “she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window”(Chopin).
Comment: This quotation was drawn to me based upon the section in Parkers chapter on Feminist Studies where it discussed women being pictured and filmed within frames. It was with the idea of how women were viewed inside this frame through the male gaze. In this quotation, it mentions how Louise is feeling refreshed looking through the “open window” now that her husband is gone. Since her husband is gone, it brings the notion that she is now also free of any gender roles that had been placed upon her. She is also free of the male gaze subjected on her by her husband. Thinking of a window, it feels as if the shade has been drawn and the window opened to new opportunities. There is no other human being that she has to live for other than her own. It is almost as if she is re-birthed through drinking this “elixir of life”, stating her freedom of any societal constraint.
Question: What does the last line of this short story mean? Is Louise actually so excited for her husbands return that she dies, or is it purposeful in not having to return to a married life? What was the purpose of this being published in Vogue, for readership value or to connect with female audience?
