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Irony In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

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Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Mrs.
Mallard is fighting oppression through not having the same rights as men in this period of the 1890s. Women didn’t have the right to vote while also having arranged marriages for which they can’t choose their own husbands. An analysis of “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate
Chopin, uses the themes death, freedom, and irony to show the struggles women faced in the 1890s.
The first theme in “The Story of an Hour,” is death. In the beginning of the story, Mrs.
Mallard’s husband, Brently Mallard, died in a tragic railroad accident. Kate Chopin tells us how Richard and Josephine gently broke the news to Mrs. Mallard about her husband’s death. Resulting from the news, Mrs. …show more content…

That’s why freedom is one of the major themes in this story. Thornton3
The last theme in “The Story of an Hour,” is irony. In the story, Mrs. Mallard’s husband was killed in an accident. So, a person would think Mrs. Mallard would finally be able to live her life free since her husband passed. But, Mrs. Mallard ended up dying from a heart disease. Chopin states “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills” (Chopin 66). The doctors said she died from joy, but Mrs. Mallard really wasn’t happy with the relationship she was in. When Brently Mallard came back home, he was amazed to see the piercing cry of Josephine and the quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife. Chopin wrote “He had been far from the scene of accident and did not even know there had been one” (Chopin 66). So, Brently wasn’t even apart of the accident and Mrs. Mallard ended up dying which is very ironic. Mrs. Mallard just wanted to live free but ended up dying. Even if she felt free, when Brently would come back home she would lose that feeling once again. So, Mrs. Mallard dying was the only real way she could be free.
That’s why irony is one of the major themes in this

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In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, after hearing the news of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard’s emotions did not portray sadness or despair instead she was relieved and rejoiced. Even though Mrs. Mallard admits that her husband was kind and loving, she feels joy after hearing the news of her husband’s death that she will no longer be known as Mrs. Mallard. Although it was acknowledged in the story that Louise Mallard loved Bentley Mallard, we can tell by the statement “had never looked save with love upon her,” (Chopin, 1894), the favor was not returned. The main theme we see in this story is the oppression of marriage. Death of her husband shows that Mrs. Mallard finally has freedom.

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but she was waiting for other Although Mrs.Mallard felt overly joyful, she knew that once she sees Brently corpse her heart will be broken

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Her first name is only told after her husband dies. Thus, it symbolizes her being free, “Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering” (Chopin 203). The reader is told that Mr. Mallard is assumed to die from a railroad accident.

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