A. Mrs. Mallard is thinking about her long life just before her own death.
Explanation:
In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband had died in an accident. unknowing to the other people, she is secretly happy that at last she is free from the authoritative hand that she was kept under. And the given passage shows her going to a room and thinking of how long her life will be, happily and cheerfully imagining the upcoming days without that dreadful husband to look out for. <em><u>Irony is when something happens that is unexpected and quite the contrary of what is wanted or told.</u></em> The above passage is ironic as she was thinking of her long life just before her own death.
The theme of the oval portrait is Fatal love, the wife in the story loves an artist but he loves his art. so by the time he was done it happened that she had died by his side.
