Tone+&+Style

=Writing Assignment:= In no less than 600 words, write a brief analysis of [|irony] in "The Yellow-Wallpaper" and "The Story of an Hour". What sorts of irony do these stories employ?


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In "TYW" WHAT is ironic? The fact that the wife is "imprisoned" in what used to be a nursery where it looked like another woman or women had been kept for their own good does not seem ironic? There are bars on the windows and a gate at the top of the stairs - yes, she is the woman in the wallpaper and a metaphor Gilman uses to speak of all women and their place during that time. Women were treated as weak and silly creatures. Not to be trusted to their own designs or measures. So where is the irony in that essay other than John?

And in "ASOAH" because Mrs. Mallard goes from worrying about what she will do (women were in that time only worth as much as their husbands) to dreaming of what she CAN do because she is free! Then, the shock from seeing her captor return is too much and she "dies of the joy that kills."


 * So both women are being held captive in a way as defined by society, both seeking and gaining freedom, but at what price? So the irony in both stories is what?**

Example of a great analysis that has a thesis, analysis, examples from the story and addresses both of the stories as is meant to be. Bravo! Think situational irony and fated irony perhaps, hmmmm.

In both stories “The Yellow Wall Paper” and “The Story of An Hour” people are trying to protect two women from their selves. While one woman tries to escape her protectors, the other welcomes hers. The woman in “The Yellow Wall Paper” is suffering from anxiety, depression and delusions. Her husband John is a physician who dominates her and her situation, thinking he can heal her through conventional methods. When John takes her to an old house in the country where she can get well, the house only seems to fuel the woman’s condition. Her husband is a selfish and aloof man, unwilling to hear his wife’s pleas as she realizes she is getting worse. The husband in “The Story of An Hour” may have been similar to John. Both men probably loved their wives, but both clearly lacked something in communication. So much so that when Mrs. Mallard thinks her husband is dead, she begins to think how much better life might be without him. “It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” (Chopin 421) Mrs. Mallard also has a delicate condition with her heart, and like the woman in “The Yellow Wall Paper”, they both seem to be teetering on the edge of truly living or not. The woman’s mind in “The Yellow Wall Paper” slowly degenerates more as she studies the busy pattern on the wall. She hallucinates thinking she sees a woman behind the paper, moving the pattern, struggling to get out. In her mind, the woman is really her. It is her that wants to be free to roam around the estate, to visit friends and family, and to write in her journal. Just as her husband has trapped her in this house, so is she like the woman in the wall. Finally, she completely looses her grip on reality, and in an effort to free herself from the trap that is her mind, she tries to free the women behind the wallpaper. “I’ve got out at last,” said I, “in spite of you and Jane. “And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” (Gilman 436) Apparently the woman in the “Story of An Hour” was feeling just as trapped in her marriage. Regardless of her heart condition, she seemed to be dying in her relationship. Her sister thinks the mistaken news of her dead husband could kill her, and while initially it did make her sad, “And yet she had loved him-sometimes” (Chopin 421) she also feels like she has been set free. Thinking of the years ahead with no one to answer to but her self, actually seems to strengthen her, and she may indeed have led a long life despite her heart. “No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.” (Chopin 421) Tragically, finding the news to be false and her new found freedom only lasting but an hour is what kills her. The irony of these two tales is that while both the husband and the sister had good intentions for these women, it was their very efforts that drove them over the edge. The more the husband tried to protect his wife and control her surroundings the further into insanity it drove her. And while the sister was trying to help through what she thought was terrible news, what she had really given her was hope for the future, hope that was then ripped away from her. Both women simply wanted their freedom.
 * [|hefnermj] writes:**