Comparing Irony In Two Kinds And A Story Of An Hour

The plots of the short stories "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan and "A Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin both heavily incorporate irony. Tan's tale of Louise Mallard, a heart-problems-ridden wife” coping” with her husband's passing. Along with Chopin's account of Jing Mei, a girl in her early years and the expectations her mother placed on her while she lived in America.
When looking at both stories the use of Irony is incorporated in separate ways whether it's Situational, Verbal, or Dramatic. “Story of an Hour” and "Two Kinds" experiments with each of the three English techniques. In “Story of an Hour”, Chopin heavily employed irony using the death of the husband as the catalyst for the majority of it. And makes more use of the inner turmoil Mrs. Mallard

As when told the news of her Husband’s death the initial reaction of it seemed like she was sad: “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of grief had passed itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.” (Chopin 1). This is what everyone in the room thought as she left the room, wanting to be alone to grieve off the news. But as she got alone time she kept whispering to herself, “Free, Free, Free” (Chopin 2). After realizing the and coming to reality that her husband is dead Chopin uses dramatic irony. Her sister, Josephine, begs her to come out as she thinks that she’ll make herself ill, "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door" (Chopin 2). This is dramatic because as the reader we know that Louise is happy and rejoicing in her new found freedom in her alone time, while Josephine thinks she is too sad and doesn’t know how she’ll go on without a husband and her heart

When is comes to situational irony, Jing-Mei starts taking Piano lessons because her mom forces her to. She senses Chong as a strange old man, but then she finds out why he retired, “He was deaf”, (Tan 3) This is very literal as it’s comical that deaf man is teaching an instrument. Jing Mei’s mother forces her to practice for a talent show. She then doesn’t practice and thinks she’ll be fine, “When my turn came, I was very confident. I remember my childish excitement. It was as if I knew, without a doubt, that the prodigy side of me really did exist. I had no fear whatsoever, no nervousness…”, (Tan 4). She believes that she’ll go up there and play a beautiful piece, this dream slam shut by herself as when she finally started playing: “I was surprised when I hit the first wrong note. And then I hit another and another'', (Chopin 4). This is ironic because she thought she would play amazing but they absolutely bombed her performance in front of everyone. Her father then gives us the hilarious line, “That was something' else”, (Chopin 4). This is an example of verbal irony as the father knew her daughter's performance was terrible. The story ends with Jing-Mei as an adult and that her mother passes away. She then goes back to the piano to play it for fun. `` I played a few bars, surprised at how easily the notes came back to me”, (Chopin 6). This is an example of irony because she finally starts getting the hang of it as soon as he passes