Story Of An Hour Tone Analysis

Tone and Irony: The Story of an Hour

In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin alters the narrator’s tone in order to both provide her character’s ironic thoughts and feelings and to prevent the reader from expecting Mrs. Mallard’s ironic end. This is accomplished through the use of descriptive terms and phrases with strong, emotional connotations. Not only were the descriptive terms used, but what they were used to describe were also indications of shifts in the narrator’s tone. The tone’s color also alters with Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state. The emotional tones are used in order to display Mrs. Mallard’s internal shift from the expected grief associated with losing one’s spouse to the joy that provides the reader with this story’s irony. Emotional tones, however, are not the only tones present.

In order to prevent the reader from expecting the

ending, Chopin begins her short story in a matter-of-fact tone. The narrator begins by stating that the characters other than Mrs. Mallard knew “that [she] was afflicted with a heart trouble, [so] great care was taken to break to her … the news of her husband’s death.” (1) The narrator prevents speculation on the matter of Mr. Mallard’s death before the story had even begun. Chopin uses this method of cutting off the reader’s curiosity in order to make her story’s ending truly shocking and ironic. Had the reader not immediately been told in such a direct and factual way that Mr. Mallard had died, the reader may have suspected his survival which would have made the story’s end fall outside of the definition of irony. The reason for the reader’s doubt would have most likely come from the lack of definitive evidence. Richards “had only taken to assure himself of [the first telegram’s] truth by a second telegram” which, in that time period, only meant that Mr. Mallard had purchased a ticket for the train and everyone that was on the train had died in the accident (2). Despite the lack of evidence, the reader would not suspect Mr. Mallard’s return due to the author’s tone when simply stating that he had died.
While the unemotional tone of the narrator’s beginning statement prevents the reader from guessing at the ironic ending, the narrator’s use of emotionally inspired tones displays Mrs.

Mallard’s shift from the expected emotional reaction to her unexpected reaction which lead to her ironic death. Upon hearing of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard “wept at once” and “went away to her room alone” (3). This reaction presents a grieving, newly widowed woman which is one of several possibilities that are expected, but, after a short time, the narrator’s tone no longer suggests that Mrs. Mallard is grieving which is the first sign of this story’s irony. The narrator begins to comment on things that seem odd, given the tone that was just presented to the reader, such as: “new spring life”, the “breath of rain”, and the “notes of a distant song” which all carry positive connotations (5). The narrator then revisits Mrs. Mallard, who is indulging in a new emotion which she is not sure “if it [is] or [is] not a monstrous joy” (11). While Mrs. Mallard has already had a complete emotional shift, her emotional state continues to

evolve.
After the tone shift following Mrs. Mallard’s emotions has gone from grief to what appears to be joy, the emotional tone shifts once more into triumph. The narrator describes Mrs. Mallard’s demeanor as being “like [that of] a goddess of victory” in order to display Mrs. Mallard’s final thoughts and emotions on the death of her husband (18). The reader is then immediately presented with that which the narrator assured them could not happen: the return of Mr. Mallard. With this development, the narrator readopts the familiar matter-of-fact tone and tells the reader of the ironic occurrence and Mrs. Mallard’s immediate death thereafter in little detail, much in the same manner that Mr. Mallard’s death was presented. The narrator then provides what Mrs. Mallard’s cause of death was determined to be as one, final display of irony: “joy that kills.” (20)
In conclusion, Chopin used her narrator’s tone in order to shape the story so that the ironic ending would be as effective as possible. The narrator’s beginning conformation of Mr. Mallard’s death prevented the reader from suspecting his return which made the fact he did return an ironic occurrence. The emotional tone shift following Mrs. Mallard’s own emotions allowed the reader not only to understand why seeing her husband killed her, but also allowed the reader to find irony within her unexpected reaction to Mr. Mallard’s death. The narrator’s short lived tone of victory was ironic and provided insight into Mrs. Mallard’s final feelings on her husband’s death.