Story Of An Hour Irony

The short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a story about a woman with heart problems. The name of the woman is Louise Mallard, and she was happily married, or at least that is what she thought. Mr. Mallard, her husband, works on the railroads, which had experienced a horrible accident. After a friend heard about the accident, Mrs. Mallard received the news he had died. At first, she wept, but then she suddenly felt a monstrous joy come over her. She began to feel free and alive again. Consequently, Chopin's theme represents the struggle between freedom and repression, and she conveys her theme by using techniques such as irony, symbolism, and imagery throughout her story. Short stories may be small, but they can present a meaningful

At the beginning of the story, when Mr. Mallard had supposedly “died” Mrs. Mallard felt free. She had previously been oppressed by her husband and never could truly live her life the way she desired. So once her husband died, she began to see a new life for herself. Her new life did not last long it only lasted an hour, which is the irony of the story. Mrs. Mallard was finally free, yet she was not able to enjoy it. For example, when Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister told her “I beg; open the door...you will make yourself ill” while Mrs. Mallard was “drinking in every elixir of life through that open window,” Josephine was correct. They both did not know it at the time, but while she was enjoying her freedom through the open window, she was making herself sick. She was raising the expectations of her new life through the roof, which resulted in her reaction to her conscious husband being so horrific. In addition, Chopin uses another example of irony when she says, “When the doctors came by, they said she had died of heart disease...of joy that kills.” Chopin only lets the readers know how Mrs. Mallard truly felt about her husband's death, so when doctors say that she had died from too much joy when he returned, we know this is not true but quite the opposite. Mrs. Mallard died from disappointment and sadness because she knew her freshly gained freedom would be taken