Irony in Kate Chopin’s Selected Short Stories

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Hazha S. Hassan
Chinar K. Tayib

Abstract

Many authors often employ irony as a powerful literary device since it makes the language of their literary works more suggestive and more emphatic. They usually use irony as a kind of satire, thereby to emphasize faults in their characters or in society in general.  Among the American writers who use irony in their short stories is Kate Chopin. This study aims to discuss the nature of irony in Kate Chopin’s three short stories, “The Story of an Hour”, “The Storm”, and “Desiree’s Baby”. The study tries to analyze the presence of three main types of irony, their functions, their relation to the theme or message of the story, and the reasons behind the use of irony. The study concludes that though Chopin satirizes her contemporary society through irony, her irony is neither humorous nor funny but invariably tragic. She deliberately uses irony in her stories. She creates an atmosphere of suspense by adding turns and twists to the stories in order to shock the reader. Another reason for using irony is to employ her unconventional ideas about the condition of women and to bring the reader to the main theme of the story. Moreover, the ultimate goal behind all is to criticize as well as to highlight the flaws of the American patriarchal society of her lifetime and to support her feminist ideas.

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How to Cite
Hassan, H. S. and Tayib, C. K. (2020) “Irony in Kate Chopin’s Selected Short Stories”, Koya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(1), pp. 137-144. doi: 10.14500/kujhss.v3n1y2020.pp137-144.
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Articles
Author Biographies

Hazha S. Hassan, Department of English Language, College of Basic Education, Salahaddin University- Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Hazha Salih Hassan is an instructor of English Literature at Salahaddin University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq. She received an MA from the Department of English, College of Arts, Salahaddin University.  Her research interests include American Literature (Poetry and Short Stories), and Teaching English Literature in EFL classes. She has been teaching English Literature at university since 2004.

Chinar K. Tayib, Department of English Language, College of Basic Education, Salahaddin University- Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Chinar Kamal Tayib is an assistant instructor of English Literature at Salahaddin University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq. She received an MA from the Department of English, College of Languages, Salahaddin University.   Her research interests include American Literature (Novel and Short Stories), and Teaching English Literature in EFL classes. She has been teaching English Literature at university since 2008. 

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