It is as real as a character because it is has a type of power over Louise. She can never leave it. After hearing the news of Brently, Louise runs up to her room and "would have no one follow her" (635). The room takes on a persona as it becomes the one thing with which Louise shares her secret of freedom. Here, she can relish in the thought of being free without worrying about the disapproval of others. Here, she can express the excitement she feels when she looks outside and considers freedom as something within her grasp. This is the only place that knows her true heart and it is the only place in which she has few minutes to taste the freedom she desires. The room envelops her and allows her to this moment before her own life comes to an end. Setting is important to a story for various reasons....

While it provides a place where events occur, it can also do much more. "The Story of an Hour" illustrates how setting can rise above the general expectations in a story and add depth and texture to the meaning behind the story. Louise's house, while it symbolizes the oppression of her day, also becomes like a character with which she shares her deepest secrets. While it seems contradictory, this makes sense in Louise's world. The setting demonstrates Chopin's ability to weave intensity into a story with so few literary elements. She proves it is not how much "stuff" ends up in a story but what you do with it that counts.
Work Cited

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lauter,

Paul, ed. Lexington D.C. Heath and Company. 1990.