Author Kate Chopin has published many stories. Perhaps her most famous short story is “The Story of An Hour.” Some literary tools used in the story that will be discussed in this essay are setting, symbolism, and character. A short biography of Kate O’Flaherty (Chopin’s maiden name) is also included. Catherine “Kate” O’Flaherty was born on Feb. 8, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri to Eliza and Thomas O’Flaherty. She was the 3rd of 5 children; however all of her sisters died as infants and her brothers died before their mid-twenties. In 1855, two months after Kate was sent to The Sacred Heart Academy, a catholic boarding school, her father, Thomas, was killed in a train accident when the train he was riding collapsed with the bridge it was crossing. She returned home and stayed with her mother, grandmother and great grandmother until she finally returned to SHA when she was sixteen. In December of 1863, O’Flaherty’s grandmother passed away. Three years later, Kate married 25 year old Oscar Chopin and eventually had 7 children; 5 sons and 2 daughters. They moved to Cloutierville, Louisiana. Unfortunately, Oscar died of swamp fever in 1882 and Chopin and her children move in with her mother. Then, in 1885, Chopin’s mother, Eliza, dies. Kate Chopin publishes her first novel “At Fault” in 1890. Following this, “The Awakening” was published in 1899; it caused an uproar which resulted in her being denied membership to the St. Louis Fine Arts Club. She published 2 more stories with the last being “Polly” which was published in 1902. Tragically, at the age of 54, Kate Chopin died on Aug. 22, 1904 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Setting has a major role in most stories and “The Story of An Hour” is no different. Technology also affects setting. “The Story of An Hour” was published in Vogue in 1894. The story had to be written as if it were taking place in the time period it was written because according to “Sp