Tragedy is among the recurring themes exemplified in literature, exploring the depths of human suffering, loss, and the profound impacts on people. In the poems “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen, “Out, Out-” by Robert Frost, and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, tragedy is conveyed through various literary techniques and vivid imagery. Chopin’s poem ‘The Story of an Hour’ is a tragic story that explains the new profound position of a widow struggling to establish an identity after losing her husband. Tragedy begins when her new profound identity is stripped away as her husband’s appearance showcases that he is still alive. From this tragedy, she struggles with a heart attack due to a series of conflicts she experiences throughout the story. Owen’s poem ‘Disabled’ explores the tragic consequences of war on a young soldier who has been severely injured following World War I. It explicitly captures the emotional and physical devastation experienced by the protagonist, emphasizing the loss of his past identity and the indifference of society toward his state. Frost’s poem ‘Out, Out’ narrates a tragic story of a young boy who encounters a fatal accident while operating with a buzz saw. It explores the suddenness and brutality of death and the insignificance of the surrounding adults who fail to acknowledge the boy’s suffering. This analysis focuses on aspects of tragedy in the three poems and their linkage to daily life experiences.
‘The Story of an Hour’ commences by introducing Mrs. Mallard (the protagonist), who, after learning about the death of her husband from the railroad accident, responds differently from the reader’s anticipation. Instead of denying the tragic accident or taking time to process it, she begins to cry hysterically and decides to be alone after that. She develops flashbacks, and joy unfolds over her, embodying aspects of loss and irony. In several ways, Chopin manages to depict the theme of tragedy from the main character. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard failed to describe her true personality since she was tied to the knot of marriage. The realization that she lived most of her life under blind love connoted depression; ‘She loved him – sometimes, what could love, the mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being (Chopin, 1989, Stanza 11, line 2).” In this setting, individual freedom is the primary concern for Mrs. Mallard, which she lost in her marriage. This is because self-affirmation was rare since husbands demanded dependency from women in this era. The search for freedom and realization for oneself struck Mrs. Mallard at first, but the fact that the feeling of having lost did not rapture to immediate happiness makes the story tragic. First, Mrs. Mallard anticipated this new life with fear since she had long lived under social pressure. As depicted in the line a monstrous joy and a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely (Chopin, 1989, Stanza 10, Line 2), Chopin uses irony to explain a woman who was initially trapped in a repressive marriage with a fleeting taste of freedom. The last ironic twist is tragic, exposing the oppressive nature of societal expectations and the female limitations of the period.
Wilfred’s poem ‘Disabled’ reflects on the diverse effects of the war. It portrays an ironic contrast between a strong, limbed, handsome youth hero in frontline battle and a wrecked body in a wheelchair after the man is wounded. The poem narrows to the profound effects such as trauma experienced from injuries and loss in one’s youth era. The soldier seems to grapple with inevitable consequences following his infantile decision, which gave him permanent scars on his psyche and body, ultimately dooming his life. The story emerges as tragic since it is deliberately brought on by the protagonist, who was seduced by the World War 1 propaganda as a s glamorous adventure while ignoring the horrors of warfare. The youth soldier perceived war as a type of sport; “One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg, after the matches (Owen, 2005, Stanza 4, Line 1).’ Following this ignorance, he relates the match scratch to injuries he might maintain in the war. The cruel irony in this context leads to the essence of tragedy. For instance, the soldier learns once he has become disabled that his pride led him to be misled; “someone had said he would look a god in kilts (Owen, 2005, Stanza 4, Line 5).” Here, it is definite that the boy perceived the war encounter as an adventure rather than the brutal bloodbath he encountered. Also, there is a sense of heartlessness in ‘Disabled.’ This young man was once a sporting hero but is now viewed as a label in the eyes of people (disabled) as patronized by the visiting solemn man who brought him fruits. The soldier suffers long-term personal tragedy because of his disabilities. Moreover, through stylistic devices like the repetition of ‘he,’ Wilfred emphasizes the magnitude of suffering the soldier experiences. According to the poem, after his death, the community resumed their daily lives and affairs as if nothing had happened.
In the poem ‘Out, Out,’ Frost commences the story peacefully so that no anticipated episode of tragedy is in it. Frost describes the compelling smell of freshly chopped wood to cement the peaceful and attractive mood of the story. This scene lures readers to a sense of security but also depicts the sadness and unpredictability with which death can strike. Apart from the rattling sound and snarling of the buzz saw, the poem envelopes in a pastoral manner (idyllic and set in rural contexts). The story recaptures the mundane and daily life activities as emphasized; “And nothing happened: the day was all but done (Frost, 1969, Line 9).” In this sense, the speaker foreshadows the accident that is to occur by suggesting that he wishes the family had “called it a day” there and then. The story describes the boy as young, and his stereotypical sister comes along to inform him that dinner is ready. The hand at this moment is seemingly ‘fed’ into the buzz saw, and this led him to suffer severe injuries and death. Although this event is primarily tragic, the author augments the themes using various literary techniques. First, the author employs personification to depict how the machine is dangerous and violent; ‘And the saw snarled and rattled (Frost, 1969, Line 1).’ From this technique, Frost constructs the primary emotion and pathos by depicting that the ‘boy’ in this poem is condemned in a notion to perform a ‘man’s work.’ Since the persona is young, the readers are overwhelmed with the perception that not only is an infant missing out, but he has wasted his prime years in labor rather than savoring his youth. Also, using pathos, Frost invites the readers into the context where he claims that “his first outcry was a rueful laugh,” which suggests that he was in pain but shocked. The tragic pace is fastened when the boy requests the doctor not to cut off his hand. This showcases his desperate plea, panic, and pain. Also, the poem incorporates vivid imagery: ‘The saw, as if to prove saws knew what supper meant, leaped out at the boy’s hand,’ which invites sensory overload of feelings and suffering alongside the child. The author enhances the poem’s sense of pity and empathy as the boy requests her sister not to let his hand be cut off. It is tragic how the boy foreshadows losing his family and the beautiful things in life.
‘Out, Out’ by Frost is a poem that explains a boy whose life has been taken away in upsetting encounters. In comparison to this tragic story, ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen showcases a young man who has lost part of himself in the war. While these two stories assert viewpoints that imply brevity along with fragility as the characters, in addition to continuity of life, that a singular life is insignificant based on the universal scale, Chopin’s story ‘The Story of an Hour’ is a distinct tale that explores the tragedy of repressive marriage and liberation following ironical twist of death. Through skilled incorporation of literary techniques, the three poems convey tragedy in various ways and elicit emotions that users perceive differently. The protagonists in all the stories are subjected to physical loss and experience emotional amputation from accidental events. In all contexts, the authors have exhaustively captivated the reader’s attention. The heavy inclusion of imagery, language forms, and devices has helped create an emotional setting for the poems. Therefore, the techniques used in the three stories are critical to communicate the theme of loss and tragedy in narrative form.
Chopin, K. (1989). The story of an hour. Prentice Hall Literature: The American experience, 550-552. Retrieved: https://www.owleyes.org/text/the-story-of-an-hour/read/chopins-short-story
Frost, R. (1969). Out, out. Poetry Foundation. https://www. poetryfoundation. Org/poems/53087/out-out. Retrieved: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53087/out-out
Owen, W. (2005). Wilfred Owen’s” Disabled. Disability Studies Quarterly, 25(1). Retrieved. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57285/disabled