Author Kate Chopin argues, in "The Story of an Hour", the oppression of women by portraying individual vs. society that women used to go through when following cultural norms, Chopin helps express this argument by using literary devices which are; irony, symbolism, and imagery. Chopin uses irony in “The Story of an Hour” in order to add the effect of making the audience shocked at the sudden change of tone, and thoughts. Chopin introduces Mrs. Mallard to the story by highlighting that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, later on into the story we are informed that Mrs. Mallard husband has been ‘killed’ in an accident. Hearing this undesirable announcement, we, the readers, would expect to read about a devastated wife reacting to the undesirable
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This is the example of dramatic irony that is present to all throughout the story. Another example that we see of irony is: “Louise open the door I beg you; open the door-you will make yourself ill” (Chopin, pg. 308). This is a form of dramatic irony because we, the readers, know that Mrs. Mallard is only contemplating how extravagant and outstanding her life would be from that day onward and that she is not overthinking the death of her husband that would therefore make herself ill. Another example of dramatic irony is: “When the doctors came they said she had died of a heart disease-of the joy that kills” (Chopin, pg. 308). With the same reasons as before only the audience knows what the protagonist of the story is truly feeling and thinking. An example of situational irony is: “It was Brent Mallard who entered” (Chopin, pg.308) This is an example of situational irony because everyone in both the story and the audience is shocked to see that Mrs. Mallards husband is alive when Richards announced that he was confirmed ‘killed’ at the accident. Something that irony helps express in “The Story of an Hour” is how Mrs. Mallard truly felt about her husband’s death, she felt held back and …show more content…
The first example of symbolism in the story is the introduction of Mrs. Mallard and that quote “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin, pg.307). She is considered symbolism in the story because she might not only be a stay-home wife. Mrs. Mallard might be the human representative of all the women in the late eighteen hundred’s and it helped express that women during that time period were being restricted from their rights in society and in their marriage. At the beginning of the story another item that shows symbolism is: “…Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart troubles” (Chopin, pg.307). This sentence brings up a very important item, the heart, a heart can mean many things; it can be the core of someone’s inner emotions or thoughts-which can then lead to the audience of the story getting to know the character more in depth, it can be expressed as an overly important feeling or it is shown as it is-a very important organ in the human body. No matter what the definition of the heart is on a dictionary in “The Story of an Hour” Chopin mentions that Mrs. Mallard has heart troubles which can lead us to assume that Mrs. Mallard’s love for her husband, or maybe love that she had once held in her marriage was broken, her love for her husband is broken. This helps symbolize that Mrs. Mallards marriage is falling apart by the loss of love and that maybe not
This is the example of dramatic irony that is present to all throughout the story. Another example that we see of irony is: “Louise open the door I beg you; open the door-you will make yourself ill” (Chopin, pg. 308). This is a form of dramatic irony because we, the readers, know that Mrs. Mallard is only contemplating how extravagant and outstanding her life would be from that day onward and that she is not overthinking the death of her husband that would therefore make herself ill. Another example of dramatic irony is: “When the doctors came they said she had died of a heart disease-of the joy that kills” (Chopin, pg. 308). With the same reasons as before only the audience knows what the protagonist of the story is truly feeling and thinking. An example of situational irony is: “It was Brent Mallard who entered” (Chopin, pg.308) This is an example of situational irony because everyone in both the story and the audience is shocked to see that Mrs. Mallards husband is alive when Richards announced that he was confirmed ‘killed’ at the accident. Something that irony helps express in “The Story of an Hour” is how Mrs. Mallard truly felt about her husband’s death, she felt held back and …show more content…
The first example of symbolism in the story is the introduction of Mrs. Mallard and that quote “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin, pg.307). She is considered symbolism in the story because she might not only be a stay-home wife. Mrs. Mallard might be the human representative of all the women in the late eighteen hundred’s and it helped express that women during that time period were being restricted from their rights in society and in their marriage. At the beginning of the story another item that shows symbolism is: “…Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart troubles” (Chopin, pg.307). This sentence brings up a very important item, the heart, a heart can mean many things; it can be the core of someone’s inner emotions or thoughts-which can then lead to the audience of the story getting to know the character more in depth, it can be expressed as an overly important feeling or it is shown as it is-a very important organ in the human body. No matter what the definition of the heart is on a dictionary in “The Story of an Hour” Chopin mentions that Mrs. Mallard has heart troubles which can lead us to assume that Mrs. Mallard’s love for her husband, or maybe love that she had once held in her marriage was broken, her love for her husband is broken. This helps symbolize that Mrs. Mallards marriage is falling apart by the loss of love and that maybe not