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Irony used in the story of an hour
What period is Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” linked to
What period is Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” linked to
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A Feminist Perspective of Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin employs the tool of irony in "The Story of an Hour" to carefully convey the problem inherent in women's unequal role in marital relationships. Chopin develops a careful plot in order to demonstrate this idea, one not socially acceptable at the end of the 19th century, and unfortunately, a concept that still does not appreciate widespread acceptance today, 100 years later as we near the end of the 20th century. Louise Mallard's death, foreshadowed in the initial line "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble" takes on quite a different meaning when the plot twists and the context of her sudden death is presented unexpectedly, not upon her shock at her husband's death, but instead in her inability to endure the fact that he lives. While Chopin's employment of irony presents a socially unaccepted concept in a more acceptable format, it is the author's use of perspective that increases the impact of her message. Chopin's point might be lost, perhaps entirely, if the reader were not informed from Louise's viewpoint. While the other characters are oblivious to her actual joy in death, although it is described as such "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease - of joy that kills," their definition of this joy equates to her love for her husband. In contrast, because Chopin writes from the perspective of Louise, we understand that the intermittent love she feels for her husband, love itself dismissed as the "unsolved mystery," pales in comparison to the joy she feels upon the discovery that she can now live with the "possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being." ... ... middle of paper ... ...for his wife Louise, Chopin writes to stress the problematic assumption inherent in an unequal relationship in which one individual exercises their "powerful will" to bend others. Louise Mallard finds personal strength in her husband's death, ready to face the world as a whole person "She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday (prior to her husband's death) she had thought with a shudder that life might be long." The strength conveyed in the image of Louise carrying "herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory" is unmistakable. However, the irony that her husband lives, and therefore, she cannot, conveys the limited options socially acceptable for women. Once Louise Mallard recognizes her desire to "live for herself," and the impossibility of doing so within the bounds of her marriage, her heart will not allow her to turn back.
Nick Carraway, the narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, assigns certain types of images and descriptive words to Tom, Daisy and Jordan and continues to elaborate on these illustration throughout the first chapter. Nick uses contrasting approaches to arrive at these character sketches; Tom is described by his physical attributes, Daisy through her mannerisms and speech, and Jordan is a character primarily defined by the gossip of her fellow personages. Each approach, however, ends in similar conclusions as each character develops certain distinguishing qualities even by the end of the first chapter. Lastly, the voices of the characters also helped to project truly palpable personalities.
There are many different types of people in this world. Apart from physical features, it is the characteristics of a person that makes him/her original. Nick Carraway the narrator of The Great Gatsby, has qualities which are the complete opposite of those of Tom Buchanan, his cousin-in-law. In the novel, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses the comparison between two cousins to show how their differing characteristics reflects the themes of morality and reality versus illusion.
The second character Fitzgerald analyzes is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan. Daisy is the definition of a dream girl, she is smart, gorgeous, and just an ideal woman to be around, and the relationship between her and Tom is quite odd (Baker). Daisy and Tom move to the fashionable East Egg from Chigaco (11). Daisy has everything a woman could wish for, a wealthy husband and an immaculate house. Daisy does not know that Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Nick Carraway plays a major role in Daisy’s love life in The Great Gatsby. Nick is Daisy’s second cousin and he knew Tom from college (11). Daisy invites Nick over for dinner one evening and that is how she relearns about Jay Gatsby (11-17). Daisy met Gatsby at a dance in Louisville. They used to be madly in love with one another when he was in the army (). They had plans of always being together and being married in Louisville at Daisy’s home (118). Later in the story, Daisy was invited to go have tea at Nick’s house, but what she did not know is that it was all Gatsby’s idea to get them to rekindle their rel...
Gatsby started off as a poor man who has to struggle through life. The only nice clothes that he has is his army uniform, which Daisy, his girlfriend enjoys when he wears she thinks that he looks nice. Gatsby is in love with Daisy and she is in love with him but because he was so poor they cannot get married. To survive Gatsby has to join the army and when he goes to war Daisy marries Tom, a rich stockbroker from New York, who gives Daisy a life of luxury. The problem, unbeknown to Daisy is that he is cheating on her. When Gatsby returns from battle he notices that Daisy has married a rich man and after realizing that Daisy was after Tom’s money Gatsby figures that the only way to get her back is by becoming rich himself. Once Gatsby has his dream of being rich he makes it his goal in life…to fulfill the needs of Daisy and marry her. Although luring ones wife into marrying yourself is not polite, it does make Gatsby great because it takes a strong willed man to make a life goal and stick to it
In the opening of this short story, “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard is identified as a woman with “heart trouble”. Although it is never specified in the story as being strictly physical, “heart trouble” alludes to the emotional distress Mrs. Mallard is in at the time according to the heavy burden her marriage lays upon her and her freedom. After her husband’s tragic death in a railroad incident, Louise realizes that now without the weight of a husband upon her, she is free to live her life for herself and as is satisfies her. By being circumscribed to a constricting marriage and not possessing the free will to express thoughts of her own, she is lead to a unique conclusion of her current condition. Louise is
Within the first chapter of the novel, there is already a contradiction and a questioning of Nick’s moral integrity as he regresses from his comment slightly. While he nobly and humbly mentions that he is tolerant and nonjudgmental, he also regards himself as morally privileged, having a greater sense of ‘decencies’ than other people. It makes sense that New York’s social dichotomy and the vast difference between the rich and the poor, the arrogant and the humble has given Nick a complete moral spectrum.
2 Chopin’s physical and emotional characterization of Louise suggests the woman is experiencing a spiritual encounter that includes the possibility of eternal life. Early in the story, Chopin uses characterization to describe Mrs. Mallard’s physical condition, noting that she has “heart trouble” (12); this description foreshadows her death, [i.e. not eternal life] which will take place later in the store [story]. [Isn't it also symbolic?] The author illustrates that Mrs. Mallard is physically exhausted by writing that when she hears the news of her husband’s supposed death, she sinks into a “comfortable, roomy armchair . . . quite motionless with her head thrown back” (12). Chopin goes on to write that Louise experiences “physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her a soul” (12), which allows the reader to see that something is taking place within her both physically and emotionally. [This paragraph demosntrates that "something is taking place," but not that it relates to eternal life.]
loses anything of value, of victories without hope and worst of all, without pity or
Through the chosen quote, Fitzgerald reveals the vital ideas of the American Dream to show how it has been dominated due to the adoption of materialism and industrialization, and so; he emphasizes on the materialistic aspect of the American dream which leads to disenchantment and misery. In addition, the implementation of different colors allows for color symbolism to show the destruction of the American Dream
San Diego State University, where students who enter academically behind are encouraged to take remedial courses the summer before their freshman year. In addition, advisors urge students to carry a minimum load of 15 credits per semester.
In the context of a tumultuous time for the United States that was undergoing drastic changes socially, politically and ideologically, Kate Chopin published her first novel At Fault in 1890. Probably not aware of her role as one of the forerunners of the feminist movement in the late nineteenth century, Chopin embarked on expressing what women do feel, experience and suffer in their everyday lives. The first seeds of feminism, effectively, started essentially with the emergence of a group of women writers in England as well as in the United States who dared to speak about women from the standpoint of women and targeting a female audience. In spite of the fact that women had been taught to keep quiet, repress their voices and “internalize the codes of genteel womanhood” (Showalter 177), women writers during the nineteenth century attempted to reconstruct themselves as free individuals and refashion the image of the ideal woman. This was possible through writing that enabled them to “break new ground[s] and create new possibilities” (Showalter 19). G.H Lewes defines “female literature” as the articulation of women’s experience which “guides itself by its own impulses to autonomous self-expression” (qtd. in Showalter 13). Following women’s awareness of the unequal treatment they receive from men, their
When Sandra Cisneros wrote “Women of Hollering Creek” she reflected back on her own life experiences. This is a story that is told from the female perspective from start to finish. Like the lead character, Cleofilas, Cisneros is Mexican-American and the only daughter in a family that has seven children. Cisneros studied creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1978, (238). Growing up she traveled back and forth to Mexico to visit her father’s family and Cleofilas flees to arms of her father later in the story. She has a blended cultural identity that is relevant in the story by how she uses Mexican and English words together. For example when describing soap operas she calls them by the Spanish name telenovela. This story made me reflect on my own life experiences while I was reading it. I thought about my parents divorce, my aunt’s extremely abusive marriage of eleven years and why women, like me, tend to seek that silver lining when it comes to broken relationships.
It is clear that she is trying to speak for those women that are going through marriages where the spouse is caged in the house or unable to have the freedom to do what she wants. Not only that, it can also be seen that Chopin could be speaking for the men that have to make sacrifices for their family or change for their marriage inhibiting them from doing what they want. That’s why the Story of an Hour is so interesting because Chopin doesn’t clarify how Louise was oppressed showing that marriage is generally oppressive. Chopin goes even farther by adding “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (Gioia, 158). She is saying what kind of sane person would bestow this life of oppression on another person; heavily beating down the thoughts of freedom and independence from marriage. However, she never says anything about
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses a multitude of themes throughout his fantastic novel. In the very beginning stages of The Great Gatsby, we are firstly introduced to the narrator and main character that most of the book is centered around known as Nick Carraway. As Fitzgerald began to characterize Nick, he decided to use the first pages of the chapter for Nick’s in-depth backstory “I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless. Instead of being the warm center of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe--so I decided to go East and learn the bond business.” (3). Fitzgerald not only used just a small paragraph of his text to characterize Nick, but an extensive amount. Another way Nick is characterized is through another character’s point of view. When Nick and his old college pal Tom Buchanan meet up again from their old prime days in Chicago “Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans’.”(5). The purpose of Fitzgerald characterizing Nick and Tom altogether at the beginning is to get the reader a better understanding of how they know each other so extensively and how their relationship plays a toll in Gatsby’s attempted attainment of the Green Light. Another purposeful meaning of characterizing his characters within his novel is to get an understanding at their attitude towards others and what they feel is right from wrong, what their moral standings are. The next character plays an interesting role, a role quite fulfilling for her role within the novel. Daisy was firstly introduced with t...
the stress of poverty early in life can have consequences that last into adulthood.” I find what he