The Story of an Hour: A Mixture of Joy and Tragedy The short story, "The Story of an Hour," written by Kate Chopin deals with a strained marriage between two individuals. In the beginning, a lady named Louise Mallard, learns of the supposed death of her husband. Brently Mallard, the spouse of Louise, is said to be dead after a railroad disaster. Although the family of Brently receives two telegrams confirming the death of Brently, he shows up at the end of the story at the Mallard home safe and unharmed. The biggest part of the plot has to do with the fact that even though Louise thinks her husband is dead, she rejoices instead of grieves. Chopin's characterization of Louise conveys to readers that she is a person who lacks emotions and does not interact with the outside world completely. A very important key to understanding Louise and her emotions first surfaces when she is told of the supposed death of her husband, Brently. Chopin writes, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms." This quote is very important to understanding Louise as a person because it shows how much her emotions lack under the circumstances. Like Chopin says, she did not react to the devastating news like many women would. Rather then grieving the loss of her husband for a long period of time, Louise only wept once. Chopin did a good job describing Louise's reaction through her writing to really convey to her readers how much Louise lacks of emotions. Even though Louise lacks emotions, Chopin does a good job describing the few emotions that Louise does show. In the story, Chopin writes, "What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!" This is a very important quote as it not only shows that Louise isn't completely emotionless and when Louise does show emotion, it is very powerful. Chopin uses words like "mystery" and "possession" which give readers a strong feeling of emotional power. Although Louise is characterized as a very emotionless person, quotes like these throughout the story show that Louise does have some emotions that can be very powerful. Chopin also implies to her