«Discuss how Chopin uses irony effectively throughout the story»
Have you ever been in a situation in which something happened when you expected the complete opposite? Similar phenomena occur throughout the short story «The Story of an Hour», in which the author, Kate Chopin, uses explicit ironic elements effectively. In the story, the way Louise Mallard receives the news of her husband's death, the way she reacts to this information as well as the whole ending of this story demonstrates the irony.
To begin, the way Louise is delivered the news of her husband's death is ironic once the ending of the story is known to the reader. First, at the beginning of the story, her friends take good care in finding a way to give the woman the bad news as gently as possible, in order to avoid a harsh reaction, which could cause her to have a heart attack. However, in the end, they do not succeed in preventing an extreme reaction from Louise, as she realizes that her husband is actually still alive. Indeed, Louise ironically dies of a heart attack as she sees the latter walk through the front door. Irony is present in this situation because the woman dies even though her friend tried to avoid it, and also because her death is due to the news contrary to the one they thought would give her a stroke.
To continue, the reaction of Louise to the tragic news of her husband’s death also demonstrates irony. While she secludes herself in her room and reflects upon her new and unexpected situation, Louise ends up reacting in a way that is opposite to a reaction that is usually considered normal in this kind of situation. Indeed, instead of feeling sad and sorrowful, she gradually feels free and relieved in finding herself released from the oppression of her marriage and she realizes that her husband's death is actually a positive event that could lead to her repressed happiness. This reaction is not an expected one coming from a person who has just been informed of the death of someone close, especially in so short a period of time as the story occurs throughout a single hour. The fact that she discovers her future prospect happiness while grieving the loss of her husband is very ironic.
Moreover, the third very ironic element is the whole ending of the story. First, Louise’s sister, thinks that if Louise stays in her room all alone, she would become ill, so she convinces her to come out with her. Just when she steps out of her room, Louise sees her husband entering the house. That event sets off Louise’s heart attack: the illness that kills her. The irony in this situation is the fact that Louise's sister wants to prevent her sister from having a sickness by making her leave her room, and that it finally causes her death. In addition, before dying, Louise just realizes she is going to be able to live fully for herself and that she is going to be happier and free. She believes a happy life is ahead of her. Unfortunately, she dies a few moments later, a situation that is ironic because she thinks a long life is awaiting her. In conclusion, all the examples above demonstrate clearly that in «The Story of an Hour», irony is effective, especially when Louise receives the bad news, her reaction that followed and the ending of the story.
A. Self-evaluation of Midterm test - 10%
My purpose in writing the text is to prove to the reader that the author of «The Story of an Hour», Kate Chopin, uses irony effectively throughout this story.
I use this type of introduction: Question
This is a suggestion for improving the introduction or having a more effective one: To make sure the question is general enough for every reader to be able to respond and linking it fluently with the rest of the introduction.
In paragraph 1, the thesis statement or the main idea of the text is : «In the story, the way Louise Mallard receives the news of her husband's death, the way she reacts to this information as well as the whole ending of the story demonstrates the irony.»
This is a suggestion for improving the thesis statement or having a more effective one : Make sur it summarizes effectively my main supporting points, that it is contestable and that it is specific.
The topic sentence in -
paragraph 2 : «To begin, the way Louise is delivered the news of her husband's death is ironic once the ending of the story is known to the reader.»
paragraph 3 : «To continue, the reaction of Louise to the tragic news of her husband’s death also demonstrates irony.»
paragraph 4 :«The third very ironic element is the whole ending of the story.»
The supporting points (paraphrased) I use in -
paragraph 2 are : Louise's friends took good care of announcing her husband's death to her in a gentle way so she would not have a heart attack, but they were not able to prevent her form having one when she learned that her husband was finally still alive.
paragraph 3 are : After the death of her husband, Louise realises that she will be happier without him, instead of feeling sad.
paragraph 4 are : Louise's sister thinks she will prevent her sister from becoming ill if she makes her come out of her room, but it is after doing so that she sees her husband still alive and dies of a heart attack.
I can add more detail in -
paragraph 2 by giving a quotation with my comments.
paragraph 3 by explaining more fully the distinction between what Louise feels when she hears of the death of her husband, and what a normal reaction should be.
paragraph 4 by quoting the last sentence : «When the doctors came they said she had died of a heart disease - of the joy that kills», which gives a perfect example of the irony illustrated in the story.
The transitional words or phrases I use in -
paragraph 2 are : «To begin», «First», «However», «Indeed», «and also»
paragraph 3 are : «To continue», «Indeed», «actually»
paragraph 4 are: «Moreover», «First», «In addition», «Unfortunately», «In conclusion»
The coordinating or subordinating expressions I use in -
paragraph 2 are : «once», «in order to», «as», «because», «even though», «and also»
paragraph 3 are : «also», «While», «and», «as»
paragraph 4 are: «so», «Just when», «and»
Here is my suggestion for improving the conclusion : Make sure my conclusion summarizes my supporting points but is formulated differently than in the introduction.
I could improve the content of the text by giving more examples of irony and its effects in the story rather than only explaining the ironic situations.
I could improve the organization of the text by always making sur I have a sentence that summarizes all the supporting points of a paragraph at the beginning of it and by making sur I do not combine two different ideas in one paragraph.
I could improve the development of the text by offering more detail on the effect of irony in the story and by quoting relevant passages of the story as examples.
I could improve the sentence style of the text by :
1. «Sometimes in life, events occur that are not exactly or even sometimes the complete opposite of what we expect.» becomes
«Have you ever been in a situation in which something happened when you expected the complete opposite?»
2. «What is ironic about this situation is the fact that she ends up having a heart attack even though her friends tried to avoid it, but it was because of the opposite information.» becomes
«Irony is present in this situation because the woman dies even though her friend tried to avoid it, and also because her death is due to the news contrary to the one they thought would give her a stroke.»
3. «While being in her room alone for consolation, Louise ended up realizing things that are the opposite of what would be a normal reaction.» becomes
«While she secludes herself in her room and reflects upon her new and unexpected situation, Louise ends up reacting in a way that is opposite to a reaction that is usually considered normal in this kind of situation.»
I could improve the vocabulary by (I rephrased most of my sentences, so I could not find single words I had changed)
1. «received the news...» becomes «is delivered the news...»
2. «being in her room alone» becomes «she secludes herself in her room»
3. «relieved by her being alone now» becomes «released from the oppression of her marriage»
4. «[realizes] that she will finally be happy» becomes «discovers her future prospect happiness»
5. «are not exactly or even sometimes the complete opposite» becomes «when you expceted the complete opposite»
I could improve the grammar by :
1. «her husband that perished» would have become «her husband who perished» ( I eliminated that part of the sentence in the second version.)
2. «a person that has» becomes «a person who has»
3. «has just got informed» becomes «has just been informed»
4. To correct all the innapropriate shifting between the present and the past tense, I changed the verbs with which I explained the story to the present tense.
5. «The way Louise Mallar receives the news of her husband's death and the way she reacts to this information, as well as the whole ending of the story...» becomes «The way Lousie Mallard receives the news of her husband's death, the way she reacts to this information as well as the whole ending of the story...» (punctuation : the comma was incorrect.)
I could improve the spelling by ... (I had 10/10)
What I liked most about my first text is the ideas I found for my supporting points. They were specific, but detail could still be applied to them in order to reenforce them. They made the development of my paragraph easier.
What I liked least about my first text is the sentence style of my text. The sentences were written in an awkward way because I did not have the time to search for the exact words I meant to use to express my ideas. They were formulated in complicated and unclear ways.
