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The Ironic End In Kate Chopin's Story Of An Hour

703 Words3 Pages

The Ironic End in Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” In the "Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin tells a story that takes place in an hour and in two different scenarios belonging to the same place, a two-story house. Louise is the protagonist of this story and her life changes radically when the best friend of the family, Richard, lets her know the tragic death of her husband. The story is narrated in a semi-omniscient way in which the author tells us how Louise's unhappy life takes two sudden turns in just one hour. The story begins with news that could change the life of the protagonist drastically. News that at first may seem incredibly tragic but that end up acquiring a complete opposite aspect. Mrs. Mallard suffers from a heart …show more content…

Mallard gives in to her sister’s insistence of opening the door, she comes downstairs peacefully “she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory”. Unfortunately, the story has a tragic twist for Louise as moments later as the thought to be deceased husband of Mrs. Mallard can be seen entering the door. The ironic twist in “The Story of an Hour” can be seen in the last line, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills”. Although one may think that she died from a heart attack after being happy to find out that her deceased husband is in fact, alive, some could argue that the shock of not seeing her husband dead, and of losing her newly regained freedom actually lead to her heart failure. “The Story of an Hour” is an enjoyable and addictive reading that should be read calmly to truly comprehend it. It is one of those stories in which nothing is what it seems and in which the reader stops to examine and ask the right questions. The ending in unpredictable, and although closed, it leaves the readers wanting to know more as it is full of ironies that can make a reader rethink the situation and think if things are really like the story tells. Chopin’s beautiful writing style provides the readers with the fundamental background, which emphasized the characterization of the characters and the importance of symbols, ironies and plot

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Story Of An Hour Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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“The Story of an Hour” is a short story written by Kate Chopin. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard, who had to be informed of her husband’s death very carefully because she had a heart condition. After her sister notified her of the accident her husband was in, she cried and locked herself in her room until she started to accept and appreciate her new-found independence. When Mrs. Mallard came out of the room and walked downstairs with her sister, to her surprise, her husband walked in the front door. Mrs. Mallard had a heart attack from an overwhelming amount of shock and joy.

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Foreshadowing In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

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In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin uses foreshadowing of Mrs. Mallards death when it was stated at the beginning that she had heart problems. The Story of an Hour has two kinds of irony situational and dramatic irony. The situational irony is that her supposedly dead husband shows up and the dramatic irony is that the doctors state that she died of “the joy that kills” even though we know that it wasn’t joy that killed her but rather sadness because she lost her freedom she just thought she had obtained. The point of view used in The Story of an Hour is third person limited which is effective for the telling of the story because it allows us to be aware of Louise’s response to her husband’s death after she locked herself in her room.

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Story Of An Hour Rhetorical Analysis

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In "The Story of a Hour," Chopin utilizes particular basic and expressive methods to increase the show of great importance. The structure Chopin has decided for "The Story of a Hour" fits the topic flawlessly. The story is short, comprised of a progression of short sections, a large number of which comprise of only a few sentences. Moreover, the story covers just a single hour in Louise Mallard's life from the minute she learns of her better half's passing to the minute he out of the blue returns alive. The short, thick structure reflects the exceptional hour Louise spends thinking about her new freedom.

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"The Story of an Hour": Rhetorical Appeals "The Story of an Hour" is a rather sad and short essay, but is filled with description and the main rhetorical appeals. Such as logic, credibility, and emotion; the writer Kate Chopin does an excellent job at displaying these. Therefore aiding her in expressing what it is like to be a wife and the struggles of marriage in the late 1800 's. She also expresses that you can never really know the truth unless you really look, and it took the death of her husband to realize that she was unhappy in her marriage.

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In Kate Chopin's "Story of An Hour," the readers are taken on a journey of the mixed, scattered emotions of the main character, Louise. Louise battle between accepting her true emotion, happiness, and feeling grief as society expects her to once she learns that her husband has died. Since the story is told in third person limited point of view, the readers are clearly able to see this fight of emotions and the changes within the story's protagonist. Not only does this show the complexity of the issue, but it also illustrates Chopin's view on societal restraints. An analysis of character, setting, and rhetorical devices in Chopin's "Story of An Hour" shows that society's expectations can be damaging.

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Irony and its Effects in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a story about Louise Mallard–a woman who lived through the Victorian Era in the eighteenth century when women had no voice, rights, or self-sufficiency. Mrs. Mallard experiences a rollercoaster of emotions after the death of her husband: ranging from grief to joy. The irony stimulates a shocking–unexpected reaction from the audience towards the end of the story.

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"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin has an ironic ending. In this story, Mrs. Mallard's husband was in the newspaper, and he was killed in a train crash. Her sister Josephine told her the news of her husband's death gently because she has heart issues. Richards, Mr. Mallards friend, read this in the paper. Mrs. Mallard was surprised.

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Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour” is a powerful story that constructively conveys her point that freedom is a basic and fundamental right of every person. The story takes place in the late 19th century, when the patriarchal system that controlled the lives of women and the roles that women could play in society. Chopin effectively conveys themes of personal liberty, marriage, and freedom of life throughout the story using symbolism, imagery, language, and irony. This short story is a narrative that sheds light on the importance of personal freedom and highlights the importance of individuals being able to make choices for themselves.

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Literary Analysis “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to the sudden death of her husband. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as sad, yet happy that her husband has been killed. Kate Chopin’s “ The Story of an Hour” argues that when a person is controlled and made to live under another person their mental state of mind is affected. The story also argues that when that person is freed from the controlling person their true self can finally be achieved. Kate Chopin portrays these themes by the use of character development; plot control, and irony throughout the story.

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Irony of Story of an Hour After reading “The Story of an hour” we realize from the beginning there’s a ton of irony in the story. Chopin uses a whole different way of writing to introduce a lot of situational and dramatic irony while reading. It’s a whole other take than I’m used to. Chopin also uses a lot of contrast in the story to show the differences in gender roles, class, and marital status in the antebellum ages.

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Kate Chopin's Definition Of Marriage

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In “The Story of an Hour”, Louise receives the news of her husband’s death. She wept as soon as she heard of her husband’s death and after weeping in her sister’s arms she left to her room alone. While in her room, she gained an understanding of what her husband’s death meant, she could now live a worthy life without her constraining husband. This was all to great to be true, she was asked to come downstairs by her sister. As she descended, her husband walked through the door, and she died “of heart disease- - of the joy that kills”

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“The face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.” This moment in “The Story of an Hour,” is relatable to Kate Chopin's own life. Though Kate loved her husband dearly, she was restricted from a lot of the things she wanted to pursue.

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The Short Story The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin explores the emotions of Louise Mallard a woman with a heart disease. In the hour that the story is told, it ranges from showing Mrs. Mallard different reactions to learning of her husbands death to him surprisingly showing up alive and eventually her untimely death from a heart disease. Although only a brief period of time is shown, many emotions are revealed through the third person omniscient point of view. This point of view shows more than just the protagonists thoughts and is not limited to one person. It allows the readers to know something about Mrs. Mallard that she does not as the story ends after Mrs. Mallard has already died.

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In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” readers are dropped into a deep conflict. A man must tell a woman that her husband is dead. In the beginning there is a subtle hint at the ironic twist ending, but the story goes on cooly in spite of it. Readers start to feel connected to Mrs. Mallard and begins to pity her situation, all because of irony. The effect of irony in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” enhances the protagonist’s situation, it introduces the effect of the foreshadowing, and indirectly characterizes the protagonist.

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Universidad de Costa Rica Carlos Contreras Flores B01884 Literary Criticism The Story of an Hour Divided in Two Millenniums Throughout human history, literature has giving people an insight of what the role of women were in different time periods. In most scenarios, literature has served to establish or spot the role of women as secondary, where they were mere subjects or objects of chauvinism. Although the role changes from time to time, it has one particular characteristic, which is the restraining of their liberty or right to choose. In “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin illustrates throughout the character’s fate the only way to escape from the gender role that women were meant to have at 19th century. She achieves

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