Kate Chopin employs the tool of irony in "The Story of an Hour" to illustrate the problem relative to marital relationships in which one individual imposes his "private will" upon the other. She presents, through the story of Mrs. Mallard, an issue not socially accepted at the end of the 19th century.
             This is the story of Mrs. Mallard, a woman with a heart condition who finds out her husband has died in a train accident. She reacts with sadness at first, but after seeking solitude, realizes that she is free. She is ready to begin her new life when her husband, who was not involved in the train accident, comes home alive. The woman dies from heart failure on the spot.
             The purpose of irony in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" is to convey a message without saying it explicitly. In the context that the story was written, at the end of the 19th century, woman were often not allowed many rights. Their role in society was trifling compared to what men had. Chopin, a feminist ahead of her time, uses irony in this particular story to show the unequal role women had in relationships in the late 1800's. Mrs. Mallard's discovery of her long lost freedom and desire to live for herself only comes after her husband's death. The ironic tone in the story is employed by Chopin to present a socially unaccepted concept in a more acceptable format.
             In "The Story of an Hour", Chopin makes use of different types of irony. The first type of irony encountered is situational irony, where there is a contrast between what is expected to happen in a particular situation and what actually happens. After grieving with "wild abandonment" the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard seeks solitude in her room. Now the reader starts to see the world through her eyes, a world full of new and pure life. As she looks out of the window, she sees spring and all the new life it brings. The descriptions used now are far away from death. Mrs. Mallard stares out the "
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