Analysis of Setting in “the Story of an Hour” and “popular Mechanics”

Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Carver’s “Popular Mechanics” both use setting to develop their theme. The relationship in marriage breaks down if the couple does not truly love each other. Both stories have similar settings, such as both went into the social environment of a relationship, but some contents of the setting of each story have differences. Each story’s theme is conveyed by the setting, such as social environments and time, of the story. In “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin, the author, uses the 1900s in order to convey the theme of the story. In “Popular Mechanics,” Carver, the author, uses two different settings in order to develop the theme. In summary, the settings of “The Story of an Hour” and “Popular Mechanics” help convey the theme.

The setting in “The Story of an Hour” and “Popular Mechanics” both deal the social environment of a couple’s relationship. For example, “Story of an Hour” tells of a wife by the name of Mrs. Millard, who has heart disease, who discovers her husband had died in a railroad accident from the lips of her sister Josephine. But, Mrs. Millard reacts in a different manner most confusing. “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” (Chopin 15). Instead of feeling sorrow for the death of her husband, she leaps into a state of joy because freedom steps in her life. Likewise, in “Popular Mechanics,” the couple struggle through a relationship. “He was in the bedroom pushing clothes into a suitcase when she came to the door. I’m glad you’re leaving! I’m glad you’re leaving! She said. Do you hear?” (Carver 264). Though one never knows if the couple was married, the social environment in the relationship between the two individuals was argumentative which ends in the collapse of the relationship such as Mrs. Millard’s relationship with her husband. In short, the settings in “The Story of an Hour” and “Popular Mechanics” demonstrate the similar collapse of each couple’s relationship.

Even though “Story of an Hour” and “Popular Mechanics” has similar settings in the stories, there are differences in the setting of each story. For example, in “The Story of an Hour,” the setting takes place somewhere in the 1900s during the day. “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window” (Chopin 15). Mrs. Millard sat in her house during the day as an upper-middle class