Story Of An Hour Figurative Language Essay

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Figurative language is used in many of the selected stories to provide another way to look at a story. In “The Story of an Hour”, Louise Mallard dies from shock after seeing her husband alive after being told of his death. The doctors claimed she died “of joy that kills,” (Chopin 158). However, Louise truly dies from the shock she experienced when her chances of freedom were taken away by her renewed marriage. It is ironic how others thought that she was mourning; in reality, Louise was really celebrating. This irony supports the theme of how humans value their freedom above most other factors in life. Chopin also uses imagery to describe the scene outside Louise’s window. Louise could see “the open square . . . the tops of trees that were all aquiver …show more content…

. notes of a distant song . . . countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves,” (Chopin 157). The area outside her window is desirable to Louise and it enforces the idea of how freedom is important and appealing to humans. Another use of irony is in “The Lottery”, Old Man Warner claims that the villages who have given up the lottery will “go back to living caves . . . eating stewed chickweed and acorns,” (Jackson 393). He claims that without the lottery, the village would be a savage, backward one. This is ironic, because to the reader, the village with the lottery is savage and cruel. The irony shows how humans will blindly follow a tradition and not question the morality. Unlike society today, who would consider this immoral, the village here believes this is moral and they feel no guilt. However, “The Tell-Tale Heart is different. Here, Poe uses repetition rather than irony to describe the theme of guilt. The narrator said the beating heart “grew louder – louder – louder! . . . I felt that I must scream or die! – and now – again! – hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!” (Poe 724-725). The use of repetition strengthens the theme of how humans are consumed by guilt; here, the heartbeat “ate” away at the

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