Kate Chopin

Would you give up life, just be happy? What's more important being happy or living in depression? Through out "The Story of an Hour" Chopin uses precise wording and how she setup the theme and the conflict within the plot. This story's setting is not really that important. We assume that it takes place in Chopin's native state Louisiana. Most of the story takes place at Mrs. Mallard's home over the course of an hour. A good portion of the story takes place in her room sitting in her armchair in front of the window. The theme I derived is that Chopin was trying to say that if your are made free but than you have to go back to being regulated than that is worth dying for.

First, Chopin uses two flat characters and one round character to show the irony of being free than back to being regulated. In the first opening lines all of the characters are introduced. Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist and the story's only round character, will undergo significant change as the story continues. Readers learn two essential facts about her that add immediate tension and interest: she has heart trouble, and her husband is assumed dead. The other three characters introduced, Mr. Mallard, Josephine and Richards, are flat characters. Mr. Mallard, though described in more detail later in the story by his wife, does not change in the story and never achieves complexity or depth as a character. Josephine and Richards are minor characters who act out their social roles predictably to make the plot progress.

Secondly, Chopin uses the plot to show the ironic twist of being free then back to being regulated. The story opens with a traumatic beginning. About a woman named Mrs. Mallard. In the first few lines, she receives news of her husband's death from her sister Josephine, and by a friend of Mrs. Mallard's husband, Richards. In the beginning readers are told that Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble. With her heart trouble and the traumatic news she receives, are a combination for disaster that grips the reader and throws them forward into the story. Shortly after being told the bad news, Mrs. Mallard retreats to her room to grieve over her husband's death. Allowing no one to follow, she sits in her armchair in front of the open window. Next in the story, she starts dreaming of not having a husband. After only a brief resistance, Mrs. Mallard submits to the feeling of freedom that accompanies her husband's death. She sees the opportunity to escape domestic repression and spend time for herself. After being in her room for a while changing her outlook on life, she returns downstairs. Richards is waiting at the end of the stairs for Josephine and Mrs. Mallard. Suddenly, they hear the latch key turning and then the door opens. In steps Brentley Mallard; Josephine screams while Richards tries to shield Brently Mallard from Mrs. Mallard's eyes. This is the story's climax. It is the one realization