The title “The Story of an Hour” references the amount of time that elapses in Chopin’s tale, which tracks the emotions and thoughts of the protagonist, Mrs. Louise Mallard, upon learning of her husband’s death. Though the story barely exceeds 1,000 words, Chopin creates a sense of temporal expansion by intricately plotting the transition of Louise’s feelings from grief, to liberation, to joy, to determination, and finally to shock at her husband’s unexpected return. By employing a third-person omniscient narrator, Chopin balances these observations of Louise’s interior life with observations of contemporary social expectations for women in 1890s America. She uses psychological realism, a literary genre that prioritizes character interiority over action, and that was popular with late 19th-century writers who were also influenced by the naturalist and realist literary movements.

After the inciting incident—learning of her husband’s death—the only physical actions Louise takes in the story are retreating to her room, sitting and thinking, then walking back downstairs. Chopin portrays Louise’s changes in emotion as the actual events of the story, rather than depicting her feelings as reactions to plot events.