The Locket By Kate Chopin

"The Locket" by Kate Chopin is at first a tragic short story about two young lovers. One could view this short story as unpredictable and at times confusing. At first Edmund is alive and wearing the locket. Next the locket is found on a dead soldier and it is returned to Octavie. Of course she believes her lover is dead, only to find out he is alive. The short story opens with Edmund sitting around the fire talking with other soldiers. One soldier notices the locket around his neck and asks him about it. The soldiers joke about what the locket is. One asks, "is it your sweetheart's picture" (Chopin, The Locket). Another one jokes, "that's a charm; soem kind of hoodoo business" (Chopin, The Locket). The talk about the locket around his neck has him missing his girlfriend. In the opening of the short story, one learns of the locket and who gave it to Edmund.
It is no longer the soldiers talking but a black bird. The black bird is sitting in a tree to trying to understand what is going on below him. He sits there all day trying to figure it out. Finally he says, "they are children playing a game" (Chopin, The Locket). One could guess it was a battle the soldiers were fighting and the bird was watching it. It was indeed a battle as a clergyman is in the field looking for soldiers who are still alive. This is when the locket is found a dead soldier. So one would think Edmund is