Irony in essays

Irony in essays The Use of Irony in Kate Chopins The Storm In the short story The Storm, written by author Kate Chopin, irony is used to help plot a situation in which two people surrender to their physical desires. The way that the author hides the immoral behavior of her characters is behind the fear of the tempest in which the characters are placed. This is an example of irony. In the short story The Storm, Chopin tries really hard to convince her readers that Calixta was a victim of fear during the bad storm. Kate uses phrases such as Calixta put her hands to her eyes, and with a cry, staggered backward(Chopin 227), to gather sympathy from her readers for Calixta. However, right before her act of betrayal, Calixta is worried about her child and husband being out in the storm and that makes her appear to be even more deceitful. The mere fact that she could be worried about her own family while committing adultery is ironic. Calixta remembers that she is the mother of a child, and still it does not stop her from having the affair with Alcee. Kate Chopin describes in detail the destruction the storm causes, The rain was coming down in sheets . . . the crash seemed to invade the very boards they stood upon (227) presenting a frightful atmosphere, but she is still not able to justify the fact that Calixta is cheating on her husband or that Alcee is cheating on his wife. The author is being ironic in many instances during the plot of the story. The four-year-old child of Calixta, Bibi, is presented to be brave and not scared of the storm. For example in the story, Bibi laid his little hand on his fathers knee and was not afraid(226), in comparison to Calixta, who is a grown woman and looses her self-worth due to her inner fear. Another example is when the author describes the emotions in Calixtas eyes during the act of betrayal, As she glanced ...