Story of an Hour; Chopin

This was the second class that I had to read The Story of an Hour, and every time I am shocked at the end, and I also am a little amused at the irony of Mrs. Mallard's situation. Mrs. Mallard had to deal with a lot of cosmic irony in this story; the author plays with her, letting her get a glimpse of freedom, then suddenly snatches it away after a brief moment. There are also periods of situational irony of when we (the readers) believe that Mrs. Mallard is truly free and going to live out a really long life, when all of a sudden she dies; while her husband is thought to be dead, but is really alive. I thought that it was unique that Mrs. Mallard finds out her husband is dead, locks herself in her room, and strangely finds some joy and liberation in his death. She then heads down stairs and finds her husband coming home, and dies of shock and disappointment, rather than joy. Page 193 paragraphs 5 and 6, include a lot of imagery such as: "The delicious breath of rain was in the air." (Chopin 193). "In the street below a peddler was crying his wares." (Chopin 193) And, "There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled on above the other in the west facing her window." (Chopin 193). The author uses imagery, metaphors, and irony to enhance the meaning of the story by allowing us to feel the emotions of the character, while the irony enhances the bittersweetness of the ending.

Sources:

Chopin. "The Story of an Hour." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Comp. Kirszner & Mandell. Boston, MA:
Thomson Wadsworth, 2007.