The Joy That Kills Case

The short story "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin has the five basic key elements: exposition, rising action, discriminated occasion, turning point, and conclusion. The exposition is when the characters are introduced along with their situation and the setting. The main character in this story is Mrs. Louise Mallard, she has heart trouble and is later described in the story as young and attractive, Brently Mallard is introduced as Mrs. Mallard's dead husband who was in a railroad accident, Josephine is Mrs. Mallard's sister, and Richards is a friend of Brently Mallard who helps reveal the heartbreaking news to Louise. The setting of this story is not exactly given but outside it just stopped raining and the sun is starting to come out. The rising action in this story is when Richards is in the newspaper office and the information about the railroad disaster was received. Mrs. Mallards husband's name was on the list of killed and Josephine and him have to now give the news to Mrs. Mallard.

The discriminated occasion is after Mrs. Mallard was done morning, she realized that she is now free, that the life she before wanted to be short will now hopefully be long. She saw happiness and even though was felt guilty for not always loving her husband; she was excited to be living for herself now. The turning point in this story is when Josephine was knocking at Louise's door for her to open up and when they went down stairs her husband Brently Mallard was walking in the front door, alive and unharmed. The conclusion is that Mrs. Mallard passed away because of her heart troubles and the cause was "joy that killed" meaning she was so happy to see her husband she died.