The setting of this story is actually very limited, which
could be used by Chopin to reflect the feeling of Mrs. Mallard being trapped in her life
and almost caged in. The entire story occurs in the Mallard household, with the majority
of the "action" occuring in Mrs. Mallard's room as she processes the news that she has
just heard and begins to come to terms with the new state of affairs of being a widow
and having lost her husband. When things happen outside, they are only referred to, but
the entire focus of the story is on the Mallard house and what Mrs. Mallard can see
through her window in her room as far as setting
goes.
However, what is interesting to note is the way that
as Mrs. Mallard begins to contemplate a happy future without her husband, her
imagination takes her out of this setting as she imagines the things that she will be
able to do:
readability="8">Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead
of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her
own.Ironically, though, the
return of her husband to the house, safe and sound after all, rapidly reduces the
setting once more to the family household and curtails these dreams of freedom, which is
what kills Mrs. Mallard.
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