The Locket

By Kate Chopin
Plot Of The Story
 Octavie gives Edmond the locket,
which has the name of her parents and
their dates of marriage, the most
valuable thing she has in her life before
he joins the army. Edmond never takes
the locket off his neck to always fell
Octavie with him.
 One day, the unnamed soldier steals the
locket. Then he dies. Everyone thinks Edmond
is dead because the locket is around the dead
soldier’s neck. Octavie is devastated by grief.
On a spring day, Judge Pillier comes to take
Octavie for a morning drive.
Octavie is very sad and hasn’t taken the locket
off her neck. Judge Pillier tells her that miracles
are ready to happen on such a beautiful day.
 Octavie doesn’t understand what he said. As she
approaches the house, she sees a familiar face. It
is Edmond. Octavie feels that he is alive again.
Then Octavie asks what happened. Edmond says
that he thinks he lost the locket, but it was
actually stolen and the person who stole it died.
Octavie is surprised and thinks of the deceased
soldier. Edmond says nothing but thinks that the
person who stole the locket was the soldier who
said nothing the night it was spoken about.
Figures Of Speech In The
Story
 Simile
 “… before him as vividly as life.”
 “… the earth like a benediction.”
 “…made precious as material things sometimes
are by being forever identified with a
significant moment of one’s existence.”
 “… old and quiet and sad like poor Aunt Tavie.”
 “… gave herself a little demure air like her Aunt
Tavie”
 Metaphor
 “… he lay, still and motionless” instead of sleep
or nap
 “the slimy thing” instead of snake

 “Its glimmer was yet dim in the plain below.”

instead of “The sun had not yet risen.”

 “…picking his way…” instead of walking

carefully.
 “Negro” instead of Blackman

 “Feathered songsters” instead of singing

birds

 “Sweet heart” instead of lover

 “songs of birds” instead of tweet o birds

Personification
 “treacherous night”

 “The hill side was alive with clatter and motion”

 ““What’s it all about?” wondered a big black bird

perched in the top of the tallest tree. He was an
old solitary and a wise one, yet he was not wise
enough to guess what it was all about. So all
day long he kept blinking and wondering.”
 “stupid birds thought”

 “Along the leafy road which skirted a narrow,

tortuous stream”

 “world’s glory and exultation”

 “heaven might for once relent”

 Hyperbole
 “A hundred times she had read”
-She read many times.

 “tormented by the pain of parting”

-Being very sad because of the parting.

 “The noise reached far out over the plain and across the
hills and awoke the little babes that were sleeping in
their cradles.”
-There is too much noise.
Irony
 “… returned Edmond with a smile “I
don’t know how I could have gone
through this year and a half without it”
Oxymoron

 “Her dead Edmond; her living Edmond”

Characters
Edmond
 Also called Ned
 He belonged to a small detachment of
Confederate forces.
 Married to Octavie
 Round and Dynamic
 Protagonist
Octavie
 Owner of the locket
 Married to Edmond
 Round and Dynamic
Judge Pillier
 Old friend and the neighbor of the
Octavie.
 The man who take Octavie to Edmond.
 Flat and static
The Priest
 He prays for the dead soldiers
 He takes the locket whose Edmond
 Flat and static
A Negro
 Helper of the priest
 Flat and static
Theif Soldier
 He stoles the Edmond’s locket which is
given from his lover Octavie.
 He can be antagonist because of him
everybody thinks Edmond died and be
sad.
 Round and dynamic
Nick and Unnamed Soldiers
 They belonged to a small detachment of
Confederate forces.
 They talked and laughed at the locket
at the night.
 Flat and static
Theme Of The Story
 The story tells of the love between
Edmond and Octavie, and what
Edmond went through while at war.
So the theme is love, war, death and
life.
Literary Textual Analysis Final Exam
 Zeynep Sude Can
 200058033