The twist - A Culminating Experience

A plot change in a story can have a drastic effect upon the lives of the characters within. An author of a story is not bound by a conventional plot arc and can alter the course of it in an instant.The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin follows the final moments of a woman, named Mrs. Mallard, who has just discovered that her husband has been killed. In this plot twist, Mrs Mallard discovers that her husband has not been killed but is in fact alive and  well. Upon seeing that her husband lives, Mrs Mallard falls to the ground dead of a heart attack. Chopin's plot revolves around a false pretense that Mrs Mallard is free; liberated from her oppressively described husband. Chopin writes how "she had loved him;yet often she had not"(Chopin 14); leaving the reader with the feeling that Mrs. Mallard is living in an unhappy time in her life. The reader feels great relief in the knowledge that Mrs. Mallard will be able to find some peace and tranquility that she would otherwise miss. In addition to Mrs Mallard's shock, the reader is also taken aback after being informed that her husband is not dead, and that her life will be the same as it alwaysbeen. The death of Mrs Mallard reverses the tone of this short story, leaving an oppressed woman dead, and an oppressive husband free.