Ernest Hemingway "Hills Like White Elephants" Kate Chopin "The Story Hour" Hemingway rich symbolism build

"The Story of an Hour" is rife with irony. This literary device is demonstrated in Mrs. Mallard's reaction to the purported death of her husband, and in the fact that he is really alive. The literary device of irony is mainly about opposition -- words are used in the exact opposite way of their literal meaning, and people react the exact opposite of how one would think they would. Mrs. Mallard's reaction to both the alleged death of her husband and to the fact that he is still alive are both ironic because she acts the exact opposite in which one would think a spouse would act if her husband had died.

It is of critical importance that although Mrs. Mallard does have a brief moment in which she cries and mourns the death of...
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