A Heart Wrenching Tale of Irony: An Analysis of Third Person Narration Dakotah Gerlach 12th Grade

In The Story of An Hour, Kate Chopin uses a variety of literary devices ranging from third person narration, juxtaposition and irony to vividly illustrate the dramatic process of grievance, and alternately liberation, that Mrs. Mallard experiences under the impression that her husband has died. In the beginning of the short story, Chopin attempts to extend inklings to the reader of what is later to come in the story through the assertion that “Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble,” and that the other characters, her sister Josephine specifically, would “break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.” It might be perceived that Chopin’s intentions were to foreshadow Mrs. Mallard having a heart failure in response to the traumatic news if it were not delivered delicately. Chopin depicts Mrs. Mallard as a fragile being whom would be shattered both physically and emotionally when given the news of her husband’s death.

Chopin then toys along with this predictable reaction describing Mrs. Mallard as to have “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment,” similar to how a “child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.” The use of such kinetic word composition and the comparison of...