Kate Chopin's short stories Ripe Figs, The Story of an Hour, Desiree's Baby, and The Storm are very entertaining stories. They are organized in a simple, easy to understand format and the language used is free flowing. Literary devices such as irony are used in these stories to make then exciting and unique. Also, Chopin wrote about her region of New Orleans causing critics to refer to her writing as "quaint folk". Although Chopin wrote entertaining "quaint folk" stories her interests went beyond just entertainment as she tried to convey deep meaning into her stories.
             Ripe Figs is a story about Maman-Nainaine and her goddaughter Babette. Maman-Nainaine tells Babette that she may go visit her cousins down by the Bayou-Lafourche once the figs on their fig trees are ripe. Every day Babette goes to the fig trees and checks on the status of the figs. After some time Babette sees that the figs have ripened. Maman-Nainaine suggests that the figs have ripened early while Babette argues that they ripened late. (Chopin, Ripe Figs) Chopin uses images she is familiar with to tell this story. Fig trees were first grown in California and Mexico by Spanish missionaries. They then spread to several surrounding areas such as New Orleans. (Figs) Bayous are also found mainly in southern Louisiana. (Cajun) Since these images are only common to the area in which Kate Chopin wrote readers may have difficulty relating to her stories and may label it as "quaint folk". This story is not just about ripe figs though. Furthermore, it is a story about age and time. This story is a commentary on how age brings qualities such as patience whereas youth brings other qualities such as excitement. This story depicts how time seems to move at a slower rate for younger people than for older people because older people have more experience with the situations time brings.
             In The Story of an Hour Mrs. Mall...