<h2>"Story of an Hour"</h2> <table class="s_table s_table_border" style="height: 216px; width: 770px;"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img src="http://www.knowla.org/uploads/2/Encyclopedia/square-thumbs/kate-chopin.jpg" alt="http://www.knowla.org/uploads/2/Encyclopedia/square-thumbs/kate-chopin.jpg" id="tme_imgModEnabled" border="0" /></td> <td> <p>Kate Chopin, mostly of Louisiana Creole background, is considered to be the forerunner of feminist authors of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. From 1892-1895 she wrote short stories for children and adults that were published in magazines such as <em>Vogue</em>. She is most known for her novel <em>The Awakening</em>, which critics called morbid, vulgar, and disagreeable. Chopin uses <strong>local color </strong>since most of her fiction is set in Louisiana, and most of her work focuses on the lives of sensitive, intelligent women.</p> <p>Surprise endings in stories are usually ironic. Irony is a contrast between what is expected and what actually happens. There are three types of irony in literature.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Verbal irony</strong> occurs when a character states one thing and means another.</li> <li><strong>Dramatic irony</strong> occurs when the reader knows more about a situation or character than the characters in the story do.</li> <li><strong>Situational irony</strong> is a contrast between what the reader expects to happen and what actually happens.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <table class="s_table s_table_border"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <div>Read "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and be prepaired to discuss it in the next lesson. Click <a href="http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/storyofhour.html" target="_blank">here</a> for the text. Consider how a Psychoanalytic critic might view the text. </div> <div> </div> <div><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5CvU3ybiFRI/TT9vUoevPUI/AAAAAAAAAq4/QhFwRbmEo5E/s1600/listen1.jpg" alt="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5CvU3ybiFRI/TT9vUoevPUI/AAAAAAAAAq4/QhFwRbmEo5E/s1600/listen1.jpg" width="95" height="95" border="0" />You can listen to the audio file of this story <a href="http://librivox.org/short-story-collection-003/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div> </td> <td><img src="http://cms.gavirtualschool.org/Shared/Language%20Arts/AmericanLitComp/AmLitRealism_SOFTCHALK/storyofanhour.png" alt="storyofanhour.png" width="320" height="318" id="tme_imgModEnabled" align="left" border="0" /></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><strong>Works Cited</strong></p> <p><em id="__mceDel">"</em><em>The Story of an Hour"</em> http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/storyofhour.html 2 Sept 2012<br />LibriVox http://librivox.org/short-story-collection-003/ 2 Sept 2012<br />Image source: <a href="http://www.knowla.org">Kate Chopin Image</a><em id="__mceDel"><br /></em>Image source: <a href="http://patriciaannmcnair.com">The Story of an Hour </a></p>