Today is June 5, 1916; not as if it matters to Rebecca anyways. Today, just like any other day, Rebecca sits in her dreary home waiting for her husband to come walking through the front door at 6:08 p.m. promptly. Day after day, and year after year, Rebecca dreams of what she would rather be doing with her life. Going out on the town, having her own job, and traveling far, far away from this hometown of Two Rivers, Wisconsin is all she ever wanted. Instead, Rebecca married Tom, hoping to raise her social status and acceptance in this town. But today will be different. Today, once Tom comes home from work, Rebecca has promised herself to finally speak up in their marriage. As the door swings open with a gust of wind, Tom tramples through the doorway and tosses his carrying bag on the table. Rebecca stands up in a hurry and rushes to Tom’s side. “Tom?” she asks. “Can we go to New York? Or how about Pennsylvania? Anywhere but here, I just want to feel productive and useful.” “Rebecca, what has gotten into you? Tom laughs. “You are useful. Your job is right here in this kitchen.” Just as Rebecca had imagined, Tom had once again crushed her dreams in one swift breath. In A Jury of Her Peers and A Story of an Hour, both female characters resemble a closely related life to Rebecca’s. Both Minnie Wright and Louise Mallard are married to men who don’t quite see their wives as individuals. After getting married, a sense of identity is lost as the woman takes on the last name of her husband. Unfortunately, to most men in the early 20th century, marriage to their wives means that they are his property. In believing that, the women don’t have much say in any decisions and their sense of freedom is suddenly taken away. When hearing about or coming to terms with the death of their husbands, both wives act as if it is a sort of relief. Their freedom has returned, along with