In "The Story of an Hour", we find two women in a house in the middle of spring. Josephine is cautiously telling her sister, Louise, that her husband has died in a train accident. This caution is necessary because of Louise's heart trouble. Louise takes the news contrarily to most women. She breaks out sobbing and retires to her room. When she is calm, she slowly realizes that she is no longer tied to someone. She is free. At first she resists; but after a minute she whispers, 'Free, free, free'. Josephine, meanwhile, worries about her sister and calls her out of her room. Louise walked down the stairs 'unwittingly like a goddess of Victory'. Then, the door opens, and in walks Louise's husband. Louise's heart fails her and she dies, as the doctors say, 'of the joy that kills'.
The story, "The Interlopers", is set in a thick forest, at night, …show more content…
"The Story of an Hour" is set in a small house during spring. The other short story, "The Interlopers", is set in a dark forest in winter, during a thunderstorm. Both stories have foreshadowing. The setting in "The Interlopers" casts an ominous outlook on the whole story. The hints about Louise's heart problems tells you that something will happen due to her weak heart. There is also irony. Louise's husband's death gives Louise a new 'life', but his living killed her. Additionally, it is ironic that the doctors said that Louise died of the 'joy that kills', when she wasn't even remotely happy. Similarly, when Georg and Ulrich become friends, you expect a happy ending. Instead, they are presumably eaten by wolves. It is also ironic that Georg mentions 'no interlopers' twice, but the wolves are the