Initial Situation: Mrs. Mallard has a weak heart.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 477.

Plot Analysis

Genre: Short Story, Family Drama. This is a family drama. The whole story takes place in the home, so the focus is on the family who lives there; plus, the topic of the story is the loss of a spouse. With a friend's delivery of bad news, Mrs. Mallard's wild crying and emotional epiphany.

Analysis

Chopin, Kate(1850-1904), daughter of an Irish immigrant father and a Creole mother. She was originally acclaimed as a local colourist, but has won posthumous recognition principally for The Awakening, first published in 1899, when it was greeted as scandalous and morbid. Discouraged from writing more full-length fiction, she turned to poems, essays, short stories. Interest in her largely neglected work has increased lately.

1. What's Up With the Title? Surprise! This title refers to the story's duration (an hour) and its actual form (a story). We can read about the things that happen to Mrs. Mallard in just about the same amount of time that it takes for them to happen, which is pretty cool. This lends the whole thing a sense of immediacy – in other words, a feeling that things are happening to Mrs. Mallard right as we read them.

The fact that Mrs. Mallard has a weak heart changes the way everybody has to behave to her. She has to be handled gently so that her heart doesn't get a shock. Just in case we forget, should she get a shock at any point, she could die. This results in instant and constant dramatic tension.