y the elements of nature and uncontrollable events. The elements of nature cannot be ignored in Chopin's stories because they are fundamental to the outcome . The characters lives are altered by events over which they have no control, such as storms and death, and subtle events such as the breaking through of patches of blue sky and the growing season of figs. Kate Chopin seems to have written each of these stories with a short time frame. The growing season of a fig is the longest time span involved. Events in "The Storm" take place during and shortly after a storm. Her choice of names for "The Story of an Hour" indicates her own sense of time and its importance to the impact of the story. Another common characteristic is the implied attitude of Chopin's characters toward marriage. As seen in "The Storm" and "The Story of an Hour," the attitude of marriage robbing a woman of her freedom is expressed. The grieving woman in "The Storm" is suddenly made aware that she is free due to the death of her husband. The absent wife of the young man caught in a storm with an old girlfriend, is happy to be free again when he sends her a message not to hurry home. Perhaps this was the unspoken feeling of many women during Chopin's lifetime. In summary these three short stories seem to have very much in common. The use of nature, the short time frames, and the perhaps shocking attitudes of some of the characters all combine to create a sense of identity that one might expect to see in works by the same writer. Kate Chopins' style is never boring. Her stories move quickly and have great impact....
