A Big Cosmic Joke in “The Story of an Hour” and “A&P”
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is about a lady who is afflicted with heart trouble and she received the notice that her husband could be dead by an accident. She felt free now that her husband is not there anymore, but when the husband appeared and tried to get inside the room where his wife was, they noticed that she was dead. She was dead because of the joy of feeling free. “A & P” by John Updike is a story about a young man who works in a store near a beach, and one day some ladies came in with their bath suits on. That took the boss’s attention and asked them if they could leave because it’s not a place to be dressed like that, the young man defended them and told him that he quitted the job. When he went outside to look for the girls and be their hero, none of them were there. Both stories share cosmic irony. They try to do something but ended up with a “big cosmic joke.” But whereas “The story of an hour” shows that the irony is unconscious, what I mean with this is that she is not killing herself, while “A&P” shows the irony consciously, because he decided to quit.
Cosmic Irony
Clearly, we can see how cosmic irony is the predominant element in “the story of an hour.” Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart illness and any huge surprise could affect her. Her sister told her the notice that her husband was dead. After she heard the notice, the only thing that she did was going to her room by herself and locked the door. She was pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body, even though this feeling, she was saying over and over in her head “free, free, free,” sometimes she loved her husband, and other times she did not. The cosmic joke can be appreciated when we read “when the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease — of the joy that kills” (Chopin, par. 20). It is ironic that her emotion to being free killed her and not the emotion of her loss.
Also in “A&P”, we can see how the irony predominate. When the young man saw those girls and how his boss was asking them to leave, he just thought on be their hero and defended them. He started to discuss with his boss and quitted his job. He thought that if he does what he did, he would be the girls’ hero, but the universe mocked on him, and we can see it when he says “I look around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course” (Updike, par. 32). It is ironic that now he lost his job and those ladies because he wanted bo their hero.
Together with these stories and a lot of ironies, I can think about the song “Civil War” by Guns and Roses. There is a line when Axl Rose sings “What’s so civil about war anyway?” (07:13–07:15) and this line has a lot of ironies too. How are they going to help people if they are killing the poor? And there is a movie with irony too. Jim Carrey plays a guy who always lies to get what he wants or to helps people who do not deserve it, but thanks to his son’s wish he could never lie anymore. And at the end of the movie when his son’s wish ended, he says the true thinking that he could not lie, but he could.
On the other hand, even though these stories have similarities, they have differences. These stories have cosmic irony in common, but “the story of an hour” has the irony like unconsciously, because the lady did not mean to kill herself. She was surprised because of the accident and the impact that her supposed husband’s dead, and we can see it when she says “’ Go away. I am not making myself ill.’ No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window” (Chopin, par. 16). But in “A&P” the young man was conscious about what he was doing. He was totally sure about his decision when he says “I said I quit” (Updike, par. 24). He knew what quit means and what could happen if he did it, and although, he did it.
Epiphany
Moreover, Mrs. Mallard wanted to be free now that her husband was dead, as I mentioned before, she said that sometimes she loved him, but other times she did not love him. And her wish was to be a free woman, but that wish did not work because she ends up dying. We can notice it when she says “‘Free! Body and soul free!’ She kept whispering” (Chopin, par. 14). Additionally, in the “A&P” story the young man’s wish was to be a hero for the ladies, he tough he could make it if he quit. But that did not happen, even though he took a hard decision without thinking, what he wanted to happen did not happen. We see it when he says “‘ so I say “I quit” to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero’” (Updike, par. 22). That was his epiphany, be their hero but they were not there anymore, so his plan had failed.
Contrary to what I have mentioned, those stories end a little different after the epiphany had happened. In the first story, Mrs. Mallard was dead now and her freedom would be for her soul. She was thinking that now that she was free, she could live her life as she wanted before being married. But that could not happen now because she is dead, “… It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin, par. 17). In the second story. He thought that being a hero would make everything easy, instead, he says “… I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter” (Updike, par. 32). The young man knew that his life would not be easy anymore, thanks to the decision that he made just to be the girl’s hero.
Furthermore, I consider those stories similar to the film “Bridge to Terabithia” because those kids have an epiphany. They created their world and they believe in it, even though no one else sees it. When the girl dies, the sister’s boy became the princess of that fairy world and they can change it whenever they want, and we can see it when they say to each other “‘-Can there be purple flowers?’ ‘-Anything you want’”(01:28:55–01:29:02). It is similar to the stories because these three anecdotes, has their own epiphany, something that they would like to live or think, but it never happens to them because they died or quitted.
Setting
Without a doubt, something important in those stories is the setting. It is because if it would be in another place, maybe the story would not be like it is now. In the first story, all Mrs. Mallard’s situation occurs in her room, if she would be in somewhere else, she might not be drinking as she did, or someone could be taking care of her because everyone knew about her illness, and we can see it in this line; “when the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one to follow her” (Chopin, par. 3). Moreover, in the second story, the young man could not do what he did if he was not in that store. That place was really important because in that store was not allowed to be dressed like the ladies were. And that is the reason why he did what he did, and we can observe it when he says “‘I’m in the third check-out slot, with my back at the door…’” (Updike, par. 1). If he would not be there, or the ladies would not wet to that store, there would not be a story.
Likely, to story 1, the setting is so important, and I compared it with the video “November Rain” by Guns and Roses. This video is really important in the setting because when it starts to rain, the wife killed herself at their wedding party. Like the story 1 does mention the storm, Guns and Roses mentioned the rain, “And it’s hard to hold a candle in the cold November rain” (01:52–01:58). Also, this video contains irony, because it is supposed that when someone is getting married they should be happy, but we can recognize that she was not happy so she ended up killing herself.
On the other hand, those stories differ that in the first one was no place where the accident supposedly happened, so it was a misunderstanding. Thanks to the notice that her husband was dead, Mrs. Mellard had a big impression, and that could not happen if there was no setting. And we can see it “He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one” (Chopin, par. 19), and also the season had a strong impact, that is why is more credible to this accident. In the second story, the setting was like the problem because the boss says “‘it’s one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach… And another thing on the cold in the A&P…’” (Updike, par. 6). If they would be in another place there might not be a problem, nor if they would be dressed differently.
In my opinion, those stories have a different idea and differ in so many things, but they also have the same elements that are epiphany, setting, and cosmic irony. It is interesting how it can be compared and have many similarities but also differences. As I mentioned before for me, the most interesting difference it’s that in “The Story of an Hour” the irony comes from the universe, or form God, from Destiny or however anyone wants to see it. But in “A&P” the irony comes because of himself by making a big decision without thinking well. In story 1 (“The Story of an Hour”) we can recognize how when someone really wants something and begs for it, never know what would be the consequences, and in the story 2 (“A&P”) when someone tries to do something just to get someone else’s attention not always ends well, it can end in a big cosmic joke.
