Why do bad things happen to good people? We have heard this many times with the death of a car crash or another going bankrupt. Everyone has an ironic situation happen to him or her. Alanis Moressette performed a song about irony in the world’s lives. “…It’s like meeting the man of you dreams…then meeting his beautiful wife…” yeah isn’t THAT ironic, that seems to be my best fortune. Irony reveals a different reality than what appears. We see different types of irony in the stories we read, the songs we hear, and what we do in everyday life.
Mrs. Mallard is a woman who had seemed to live a sheltered life. She stayed with her husband, who worked on a railroad, to make ends meet. “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.” This sentence suggests that she had lived her life to please her husband, and to be there for him waiting on him hand and foot.
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard cried and broke down for a moment wondering what would come next. She sat down and thought. Throughout the story, there are descriptions of spring. She looked out the window and saw the trees budding, and the clouds opening up with the sun shining through. She saw that there was new life for her. She prayed that she would have a long life that she could live, by herself. She was free from the pressure of being a wife.
“Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own.” As she sits in the chair thinking about her life ahead of her, her sister Josephine is in the other room thinking her sister is going to lose it because she just lost her husband. This type of irony shows that the other characters in the story think she is grieving over the death. But a couple paragraphs later, we find that she is crying tears of joy for the newfound freedom that has come.
“She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.” There is irony of this line and with the rest of the story. She stares out the window and prays that her days of life might be lengthened, so she can live for herself and have the freedom to do things.
In the stories “Story of an Hour”, “Everyday Use”, “The Necklace”, and “The Lottery” it is evident that irony was quite a large part of the short story. There is situational irony, which is when the situation turns out differently than expected. Also, dramatic irony is present, which is when you as a reader knows more than the character. The authors seem to base their whole story around irony to surprise their readers.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is a short story that not only shows cultural divides and how they affect our actions, but also how that cultural prejudice may also affect other parties, even if, in this story, that other party may only be an elephant. Orwell shows the play for power between the Burmese and the narrator, a white British police-officer. It shows the severe prejudice between the British who had claimed Burma, and the Burmese who held a deep resentment of the British occupation. Three messages, or three themes, from Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” are prejudice, cultural divide, and power.
Mrs. Mallard is the example of a typical housewife of the mid 1800’s. At the time, most women were not allowed to go to school and were usually anticipated to marry and do housework. During that time, the only way women could get out of a marriage was if they were to die or their
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
Orwell, George. "Shooting an Elephant." 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Ed. Samuel S. Cohen. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. 284-91. Print.
The story begins on a very sad note especially in the eyes of a reader. Mrs. Mallard is said to have a “heart
...lating their own behaviour as they have had lots of practice doing so (NSW DET, 2003, p. 13). By most students demonstrating their ability to self-regulate throughout the lesson, it leaves the teacher the opportunity to better manage challenging behaviours such as Ray’s ADHD/ODD, Michael and Kendall’s tendencies to defy or be oppositional and refuse to engage and Bens’ inclination to withdraw. Strategies such as using the trust tree and taking time to self-regulate outside or in the quiet corner, coloured cups to display moods or a sense of urgency, social stories/scripts to assist with difficult and new situations, labelled praise and positive reinforcement or extrinsic motivation, extension activities of interest, ignoring minor inappropriate behaviours and redirecting when possible are used to help manage these behaviours (See lesson plan and Appendix A and B).
Louise’s fate was tragic. But still I think that it’s better to live an hour of freedom and happiness than to spend an entire lifetime in the shadow of the “gray cloud”. Louise experienced real freedom that meant the absence of her husband’s domination. The irony of life killed her too early, but it seems to me that there is no need to feel pity for her. Even if it was a short hour, it was the time when all her dreams came true. She found the freedom from her husband that her lonely soul was searching for, and just for this we can consider her as a really happy woman.
In “Shooting an Elephant” writer George Orwell illustrates the terrible episode that explains more than just the action of “shooting an elephant.” Orwell describes the scene of the killing of an elephant in Burma and reveals a number of emotions he experienced during the short, but traumatic event. Effectively, the writer uses many literary techniques to plant emotions and create tension in this scene, leading to an ironic presentation of imperialism. With each of the realistic descriptions of the observing multitude and the concrete appeal of the narrator’s pathos, Orwell thrives in persuading the audience that imperialism not only has a destructive impact on those being governed under the imperialists’ oppressive power, but also corrupts
with her husband?s death and now felt she had room to exist freely. This is supported by the lines?she would live for herself now. There would be no powerful will bending her in the blind. This demonstrates to the reader that she felt controlled by her husband, and that she would no longer be tied down to the ways of the time, which were men controlling women. This was also supported by Jennifer Hicks in her overview of the story which states, "Later, when we see Mrs. Mallard "warm and relaxed", we realize that problem with her heart is that her marriage has not allowed her to "live for herself"."
Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...
The quest for power is one which has been etched into the minds of men throughout history. However, it can be said that true power is not a result of one’s actions but comes from the following one’s own beliefs without being influenced by others. This principle sets up the story for Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell. The protagonist, Orwell himself, is a sub divisional police officer in Burma, a British colony. Orwell must try to find and use his inner power when he is faced with the decision of whether or not to kill an elephant which has ravaged the Burman’s homes. The state of power established through the imperialistic backdrop show that Orwell, as a colonist, should be in control. As well, the perspective and ideas given by Orwell show his true character and lessen the overall power set up for him. Lastly, the symbols shown are representations of traditional forms of power, but take on different implications in the story. In Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell uses setting, characterization and symbols to show that true power comes from following the dictates of one’s conscience.
Many sociologists come to a disagreement and different approaches to the Sociological concept of positivism and antipositivism. Positivism is the scientific study of social patterns. This pertains to the use of scientific methods to get a more clear understanding of the natural world. Auguste Comte was the founder of this concept. Comte believed the way that society interacts with individuals using positivism would usher in a new “positivist” age of history. Comte concept of positivism is still relevant today. Since then positivism has been expanded and became the foundation for quantitative sociology. Quantitative sociology is the use of empirical evidence to gain an understanding of human patterns and behavior.
The first reader has a guided perspective of the text that one would expect from a person who has never studied the short story; however the reader makes some valid points which enhance what is thought to be a guided knowledge of the text. The author describes Mrs. Mallard as a woman who seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told of her husband's death, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." (This shows that she is not totally locked into marriage as most women in her time). Although "she had loved him--sometimes," she automatically does not want to accept, blindly, the situation of being controlled by her husband. The reader identified Mrs. Mallard as not being a "one-dimensional, clone-like woman having a predictable, adequate emotional response for every life condition." In fact the reader believed that Mrs. Mallard had the exact opposite response to the death her husband because finally, she recognizes the freedom she has desired for a long time and it overcomes her sorrow. "Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering." We can see that the reader got this idea form this particular phrase in the story because it illuminates the idea of her sorrow tuning to happiness.