First, I will start from the tone. Based on the Oxford dictionary, tone is the general characters or attitude of something such us a piece of writing. In my opinion both of the stories have irony tone. Irony means the amusing or strange aspect of a situation that is very different from what you expect. For more details, I will show you the ironic part of the stories.
First, in Can-Can: “you are glad to be rid of me aren’t you?” “Uh-huh”, she said with a smile that suddenly made her look very pretty-someone to be missed. She didn’t ask him where he was going for his drive. She wasn’t the least bit inquisitive; though jealous she was in silent. It is irony because the woman does not her husband leave but she not showing her jealous feeling and allowed him to leave. Then, “he was simply going out for a drive, as he said, but going to a café to meet Sarah, whom his wife knew but didn’t suspect, and with her go to a house on a lake “. It is irony because although the wife know about the affair, she does not express her jealous and says nothing to her husband. Another example in this part: “he expected her to be sewing or washing not doing the can-can, for God’s sake. Yes doing some uninteresting and unattractive like darning children clothes. She had no stoking on, no shoes, and her legs looked very white and smooth, secret, as thought he had never touched them or come near them. His feet, swinging up and down high in the air, seemed to be nodding to him. She held he skirt bunched up, attractively. Why was she doing that of all times now?” Why it is irony, because it is unusual for a man who have an attractive wife have affair with another women, than he also wants justification to have affair, but it change his prospective to his wife. Another example is “she still dancing as he left the house”. The wife pretends she do not cares about her husband, the fact she is cares about him, she does not her husband left her. Then in the sentence “Perhaps she would not come”, the irony is he has arranged to meet his lover, and it is very difficult for them because both of them are marriage. But when the time come, he hopes that Sarah absent. The last examples in Can-Can short stories are “what are you thinking about?” he answers “I am thinking of somebody doing the can-can.” It is also irony because most of lover is more attractive or beautiful, but Sarah does not an attractive than his wife, it proves by Sarah’s lover always think about his wife when he meets Sarah.
Now, I will explain about the irony in The Story of an Hour. The first: “she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance”. Usually, woman will silent in a minute because she shock hears that news. Then, “she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not.” The irony is although they have been married for along time and her husband very kind and tender but she never loves him seriously. The last example: “the doctors came they said she had died of hearth disease-of joy that kills”. The irony is the doctors says that she had died in joy, but the fact is she died in sadness, because she very shock when she saw her husband still alive it means that she would be lost her freedom.
Second, the themes in these short stories are very different. First in Can-Can, the wife is love her husband so much, she is jealous when she know about her husband affair but she still faithful although know about it. It proves by sentence: ”She didn’t ask him where he was going for his drive. She wasn’t the least bit inquisitive; though jealous she was in silent”. But what happen in The Stories of an Hour is the opposite, Mrs. Mallard seriously loves her husband although she has marriage for a long time and her husband is kind and tender.
Third, it has same in point of view. Both of the stories narrated by third person, because “she and he said” are written in the stories. Then, about the setting, Can-can take place in Sarah’s lover’s house and café and the setting of The Story of an Hour in spring season, in Mrs. Mallard house. But both of the stories happen in the time when women have less power, they always in under pressure of man or man dominated society.
Finally about the characterization, in Can-can there are three characterizations: wife; is an attractive woman, marriage, calm, faithful, have more than one children and a housewife. Husband: disloyal, marriage, Sarah’s lover, out job and painter, then Sarah: she is an office staff, marriage, disloyal and woman. The characterizations in The Stories of an Hours are: Mrs. Louise Mallard: young and attractive women, weak, have hearth disease and unhappy with her marriage. Blently Mallards: he is Mrs. Mallard husband, tender kind and marriage. Then, Josephine: she is Mrs. Mallard’s sisters, women and cares about Mrs. Mallard’s problems. Richards: he is friends of Blently Mallard. The last is Doctors: physicians who arrive too late to save Mrs. Mallard. In my opinion, those are the most significant comparison between Can-Can and The Story of an Hour.
