SF1 - Lesson: The Intersection of Character, Setting, and Plot

Mrs. Mallard learns of her husband’s death.

The story follows a traditional linear narrative structure. The emphasis from the opening sentence of the exposition is on Mrs. Mallard’s “heart trouble” and the other characters (i.e. her sister, Josephine; her husband’s friend, Richards) who try to break the news to her.

By separating the two characters in two different settings in the exposition (i.e. the Mallard Home and the scene of the train wreck), Kate Chopin sets the stage for the ironic plot twist that will follow.

Mrs. Mallard struggles with the realization that she will be happier with her husband’s death.

In the rising action of the story, Mrs. Mallard develops a growing consciousness of her newfound freedom. The narrative focuses upon the awareness of her transformation from grief, to acceptance, to an understanding that she was “free, free, free!”

The setting shifts to Mrs. Mallard’s bedroom to provide an isolated area for the rising action to occur to mirror Mrs. Mallard’s inner thought process about her newfound freedom. There are details of the outside world such as the “outside window,” the growing awareness of the “tops of trees all aquiver,” and distant noises such as the “notes of a distant song,” and “countless sparrows . . . twittering in the eaves.” These details of the outside setting with the character’s realization help to heighten the suspense and impact of her realization that she will be better off without her husband.

Mrs. Mallard sees her husband and the realization ends up causing her to die of a heart attack.

The doctors and other characters misunderstand the cause for her death as being the “joy that kills” and no one realizes her true thoughts about her husband’s death.