Maupassant and Chopin and Irony

The use of irony in literature is widespread . It is a common technique used by authors to build up suspense in the narrative , as well as to prevent their work from falling into the clichyd , trite , and formulaic Irony is a very broad term and has come to encompass numerous other literary terms such as understatement , naivety , hyperbole , pun paradox . and any contrast or ambiguity ( Irony , 475 ' However , in strict terms , irony is defined to be a dissembling that is meant to be seen through (475 ' What this means is that ironic statements

tend to conceal or hide , but the intention is not to deceive the reader but rather to enlighten . Two of the most famous authors that have fully utilized the power of ironies in short stories are Kate Chopin and Guy de Maupassant

Kate Chopin was born in 1850 to an Irish father and a French mother . She lived in St . Louis , Missouri until the time of her marriage to Oscar Chopin , after which she moved with him to New Orleans . Though most of her famous works dealt with women who felt oppressed by their marriages Kate Chopin 's life did not show her to be dissatisfied with her marriage . In fact , it was grief due to the death of her husband and her mother a year after Chopin was widowed that prompted her to dedicate time to her writing (Adams , xv-xix

Her first novel , At Fault , was published in 1850 . Several works that followed were mostly set in Louisiana , among the Creoles and Acadians who inhabited the area . Her most famous work , The Awakening , is set in Grand Isle , a resort she and her husband used to frequent . This book was met with a lot of harsh criticisms and was even banned from her hometown . It was only fifty years after the novel 's first publication in 1906 that it was reprinted and made available to the public ( Kate Chopin , 175

Before the outcry that followed upon this book 's initial publication however , Chopin was considered a writer of local color fiction , a genre that has not been well-received or accepted by literary critics Furthermore , critics during her time were more concerned with Chopin 's quaint depictions of local Creole culture , rather than the fact that her works bore hints of subtle social commentary . After Awakening was published , the favorable reception with which her works were accustomed to was replaced opposition from both her peers and literary critics This novel and her subsequent work have been frequently decried as immoral ' in its portrayal of women 's sexual awakenings and explorations . Aside from The Awakening , Chopin is also known for numerous short stories . Some of the most famous are Desiree 's Baby Mrs . Mobry 's Reason ' and the frequently-anthologized The Story of an Hour ' In nearly all of her works , Chopin wielded the power of irony in to produce highly original and intelligently-written works that have earned her a place in the canon of American literature . Two...