Give example of irony in the story "The Lost Beautifulness" by Anzia Yezierska.

In the story "The Lost Beautifulness" by Anzia Yezierska,
the greatest irony occurs at the end of the story.

Hanneh
has saved her pennies over the years by doing extra laundry for her employer Mrs.
Preston, who is very wealthy. She uses the money to pay for paint so that she can paint
her kitchen white. Hanneh does this so that when her son returns from the war, he will
have a beautiful place to bring his friends.

Hanneh's
husband complains about the waste of money, but when the kitchen is finished, Hanneh is
amazed and gratified by just how gorgeous the kitchen is. It is as if it has a life of
its own. When she shows it to her friends and neighbors, they, too, are overwhelmed by
the kitchen's beauty. Creating something of beauty has been a life-changing experience
for this poverty-stricken woman. She has accomplished something she would never have
imagined she had the skill to do.

When the landlord sees
what a beautiful job she has done, he raises Hanneh's rent not once, but twice. She is
devastated. She scrimps to pay the first increase, even going without food, however, she
cannot manage to pay the second increase.

The landlord
takes her to court, and the court evicts her because she cannot pay the
rent.

When Hanneh returns home—a broken woman—she shares
her grief with the butcher. He suggests that she should not leave the beauty she has
created so that the landlord can make money off of her hard work. He suggests that she
destroy the kitchen.

In a fit of rage, this is just what
Hanneh does. The irony is that she destroys the kitchen to punish the landlord and rob
him of the beauty of the room, however, the truth is that she really has punished
herself: she has destroyed the beauty she created, and she feels as
if she has also destroyed her own soul.

The beauty of the
kitchen made no difference to the landlord for the sake of the beauty itself. Its value
came in the form of increased rent.  For Hanneh, the beauty was something that changed
her life and the way she saw the world and herself. In demolishing the kitchen, she
harmed herself more than anyone else.