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Story Of An Hour Irony

Decent Essays

“Ironic isn’t it”. We often use this term during our daily lives but what does it mean. Irony means saying something else and meaning the opposite. Irony can make a significant impact in shaping the message behind a story.(Add 1 more sentence) An author has many methods to convey a message within a short story. An effective method to develop theme is the use of irony. For example in Stanton’s “Barney” irony is used to support the subject that conducting science experiments can be deadly; further in “Story of an Hour” Chopin’s efficient use of irony develops the theme of feminism showing freedom for the women; in O’Henry’s “Gift of the Magi” the irony reveals that the gift of love and sacrifice is the biggest gift of all.
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Even after losing Tayloe, the scientist still did not doubt Barney of being clever enough.(transition) When Barney escaped from his cage with the keys to the lab, the scientist chased him out to a well where he heard “the key splash into the water below”. Since that was the only key, the scientist had to tie a rope and descent down into the well. Down in the well, while searching for the keys the scientist’s “flashlight [gives] out” and he starts to return to the surface. He hears “excited squeaks from Barney”, when he reaches the top of the well he notices that the rope had chafed against the edge of the well. The scientist believes that the “excited squeaks from Barney”were “to warn” him about the rope. The scientist admits that Barney “played the hero’s role and may have even saved his life”. Although the truth is that the “excited squeaks from Braney” were him trying to cut the rope in an attempt to kill the scientist. When the scientist goes down for his “final descent” he is down there for “longer than seems likely” because on his second decent Barney is successful in cutting the rope and killing the scientist. This relates to the theme because the scientist had …show more content…

(transition)The first irony detected is in the way that Mrs.Mallad reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Brentley Mallard. The story starts off with the news of Mr. Mallard’s death in a train accident, which was confirmed twice by his friend Richard. This news was hard to deliver to Mrs. Mallard, who “was afflicted with heart trouble”. Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister was chosen to give the news, which she presented in “veiled hints”. Upon hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard “wept at once”. She “did not hear the story as many women have heard”; she accepted the fact the Mr. Mallard is dead and headed off to her room. In Mrs. Mallard’s room she sat in “a comfortable” armchair, facing the window. This shows that Mrs. Mallard was not feeling “uncomfortable” or “abandoned” by the death of her husband. Through the window Mrs. Mallard sensed “the delicious breath of rain” and saw the “tops of trees quiver with the new spring life”. This situation irony states that usually when a woman losses her husband she goes into a state of shock and beats the furniture around instead of thinking that it is “comfortable”. One would not look out the window and see “new spring life” upon losing a loved one but instead close the window and sit in the dark. This irony contributes to the theme by showing the difference in Mrs. Mallard because she goes form behaving

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