Sunday, September 9, 2012
Blog Entry 3
Irony is when an unexpected outcome takes place. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", there was a big twist in the story that I didn't expect at all. When it was first describing the character Mrs. Mallard and how they were trying to find an easy way to give her news of her husband's death due to her heart illness. I thought the story was going to be way different. I felt bad for Mrs. Mallard at first, having a heart disease and then having to hear about your husbands's death would be a hard thing to experience. But then as I continued in the story, something happened that I didn't expect. "Free, free, free.. but she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely" (338). When i read this, I was surprised. To me, it was as if she was happy that her husband had died in the accident. So it made me wonder whether something was happening in the household that we as the reader didn't know about. Maybe she was being abused by Mr. Mallard or that she was always under his control and that was her only escape from his hands. It was very ironic to find out that the husband showed up at the house alive and to find Mrs. Mallard had died. She was so happy of being free that she passed away before she could even be free. I was defiantly not expecting that at all. In Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", I thought it was going to be a somewhat of an upbeat and encouraging story. The character talks about his friend tells Fortunato. He tells hi that he has an Amontillado that he wants him to look at to see of it is in fact the real thing. They travel to the cavern and then he tells Fortunato that it is too cold from him to go and that he can ask someone else to look at it. The way he kept asking and persisting that someone else look at it and not him showed me that he was concerned about his friend's health and was looking out for him. However, one comment that he made in the story me question his motives and made me a little suspicious. "How long have you had that cough?" (526). But when he had replied saying, "My poor friend found it impossible to talk for minutes" after Fortunato coughed, made me think that my suspicion was incorrect and that he really does care for his friend. But i was still wondering about that comment in my mind. The ending was a complete one eighty of what I would have suspected. But after looking though the story a second time, the comments that he made to Fortunato made complete sense and he had planned to kill his friend the whole time. Authors use the use of irony for many purposes. They want to throw the reader off of what the reader suspects will happen. This technique was able to throw me off completely with both stories. Having an ironic ending makes the story to the reader memorable and unique from other stories while keeping the reader entertained. These stories were very interesting in reading and shocked me to the max.
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Irony in stories really allows the reader to develop his or her own decisions on what the writer means. It allows a reader to be really engaged in the text. Just as you pointed out in “The Story of an Hour”, I saw a great deal of irony as well when the one she loved so much is in reality the one responsible for her death. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, ironic situations are everywhere. The title alone says one thing yet possibly means another; a cask is a container for holding wine, as a casket is a container for holding a body. If you look up Fortunato it means fortunate one however, I do not think Fortunato was very fortunate in the end, after all he meets his maker in those catacombs.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you on the definition of irony. In "The Cask of Amontillado", you bring up great uses of irony that i would of never thought of. Its true that the title after reading the story portrays a great deal of irony as well as the character Fortunato's name. That's very interesting and thank you for pointing that out (:
DeleteI agree, the story had an unexpected ending. But, if we look "deeper", the soldier, as a casualty, was not the only life that was sacrificied! The casualities; wives left behind and love lost was the author's real victim in this work. The short story is not necessarily from the view point of "Mrs. Mallard". "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same"(p.337). Oftentimes, writer's have written about war stories from the perspective of mature, "perfect" soldiers heading off to war. The story pays homage to young, strong and emotional women that loved the soldier's that were lost in war. Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" clearly emphasizes the fact that women, like soldiers, played an important role in the history of war; sacrificing the most important of all, "youth"! "She was young, with a fair, calm face"(p.338)."Real" casualities; the family, wives and children left behind. Oftentimes, writer's have written about war stories from the perspective of men. "There would be no one to live for during those coming years"(p.338). Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" clearly emphasizes women, who played an important role in the history of war. Chopin's, The Story of an Hour" perhaps personifies war, the stories, reflections and ideas of women, of many wars, both young and old, during war!
ReplyDeleteAarika,
DeleteInteresting comments about the story, but I'm not sure where you got the idea that Mr. Mallard was a soldier in a war.