A comparison and contrast of Kate Chopin’s The Kiss and The Story of an Hour.
This paper compares The Kiss and The Story of an Hour and examines the use of irony in the stories. The paper points out that in The Story of an Hour, the action is condensed into just one hour, instead of a whole period leading to a wedding, but notes that both stories are about individuals who want to live richer, more fulfilling lives.
The Story of an Hour and The Kiss are both concerned with marriage, the one ending and the other beginning. Irony is used by Chopin in both stories to demonstrate that life is not the way we might wish it. In both stories, the reader is led to believe that the outcome is to be according to the main characters’ design. And in both cases, that design is ruined. Each of these stories is entirely different from the other, except for the fact of planning on behalf of Nathalie and Louise Mallard. The planning in both stories is presented in two different contexts.
“”In ‘The Story of an Hour’, Mrs. Mallard feels the ecstasy of being liberated from what seems an agreeable marriage after the apparent accidental death of her husband” (Petry 119). There are a number of ironies in this story, the main one found in the title. The story is indeed the story of an hour. Louise Mallard did not plan anything, at least at first. It is when she is led to believe that her husband is dead that she begins planning “those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin 354).”
“”In ‘The Story of an Hour’, Mrs. Mallard feels the ecstasy of being liberated from what seems an agreeable marriage after the apparent accidental death of her husband” (Petry 119). There are a number of ironies in this story, the main one found in the title. The story is indeed the story of an hour. Louise Mallard did not plan anything, at least at first. It is when she is led to believe that her husband is dead that she begins planning “those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin 354).”