During the late 19th Century, society deemed women as housewives, with little or no chance for social mobility. As a matter of fact, they weren't even allowed to vote in National Elections until the 1920's. Kate Chopin, who lived in this time era, writes three different stories, "Ripe Figs", "Story of an Hour", and "The Storm" about three young women in very similar situations, Babette, Mrs. Mallard, and Calixta respectively. Chopin's stories show that regardless of economic position or social status, young women growing up in this time period were all similarly faced with Victorian regimes which were becoming increasingly inept.
             The first and most important similarity between the three characters is how they desire a little more freedom which had been withheld by society. Babette, for example, is a young girl that lives with her godmother, Mamam-Nainaine, and desires freedom to go visit her cousins. Her godmother imposes a condition that she would allow her to go, but only when the figs ripened. This was not just to cause her granddaughter unnecessary anxiety, it was to prepare her for sub ordinance in a future matrimony, something that was necessary for her godmother to impose since it is probable that Babette did not have a fatherly figure.
             While at similarly the same time period, Mrs. Mallard hopes for freedom of her matrimony to Mr. Brently Mallard. Mr. Mallard was a good, hard working husband who tried to give his wife everything she needed. However, what she really wanted was a separate identity of her own, something that neither her nor her husband were even of. She realizes this need when she receives the unexpected news that her husband had died in an accident.
             Calixta, on the other hand, desires the type of freedom that even today is viewed as unacceptable in most societies. She portrays a young married woman in a lower social class than either Babette or Mrs. Mallard. She ...