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Idioms
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Ibrahim's Superstitions:
Desperation sometimes paves the way to ironic extremes. For Ibrahim, Dina’s rent-collector, high personal expectations and a longing for wealth change him in unexpected ways. In Chapter 2, A Fine Balance describes how he trades his faith for the comfort of street superstitions:
His attendance at Friday prayers became irregular. And he began seeking guidance in ways he had once despised as the preserve of the ignorant. He found the jyotshis and fortune-tellers in the marketplace most comforting. They offered solutions to his money problems, and advice on improving his future, which was becoming his past at an alarming velocity.
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Explanation and Analysis—Money for Nothing:
Chapter 2 lingers over the irony of Dina’s tailoring enterprise as she turns in her first clothing delivery to Mrs. Gupta. Dina is partly aware of this herself—for all its pleasures, the payment briefly pricks at her conscience:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The three dozen dresses were completed before the due date. Mrs. Gupta was delighted with the results. She authorized a new assignment, for six dozen garments this time. And safely in Dina’s purse was the payment for the first batch. Almost like money for nothing, she felt, experiencing a hint of guilt. How much easier than those tangled days when her fingers and eyes were forever snarled in sewing and embroidery.
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Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Namaskaar, Brothers:
Dramatic irony culminates into a nail-biting moment during Narayan and Ishvar’s apprenticeship with Ashraf. When a gang of Hindu nationalists beats on the tailor’s door with threats of violence in Chapter 3, the brothers step in to intervene. The performance that follows is perilous and fraught:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Most of them had some sort of crude weapon, a stick or a spear; others had swords. A few men were wearing saffron shirts, and carried tridents.
The sight of them made Ishvar tremble. For a brief moment he was tempted to tell them the truth and step out of the way. Ashamed of the thought, he unlocked the grating and pushed it open a bit. “Namaskaar, brothers.”
“Who are you?” asked the man in front.
“My father owns Krishna Tailors. This is my brother.”
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Explanation and Analysis—Victims Made Rascals:
Gaslighting reaches its cruelest extremes in Chapter 3, where situational irony puts a final, brutal touch to one of the novel’s most horrific moments. Upon reporting the murder incident to the police, Ishvar and Omprakash get branded by the inspector as liars:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Then, with great reluctance, the police went to the house to verify the allegations in the First Information Report. They reported that nothing was found to support charges of arson and murder. The sub-inspector was cross with Ishvar. “What kind of rascality is this? Trying to fill up the F.I.R. with lies? You filthy achhoot castes are always out to make trouble! Get out before we charge you with public mischief!”
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Explanation and Analysis—Cursed Bhunghi:
Following Roopa's sons’ professional successes, Chapter 3’s situational irony makes Roopa nearly appear like a hypocrite. When a Bhunghi—member of India’s “untouchable” class—ventures near Narayan’s tailoring shop in the village, the mother shoos him off their front doorstep:
Unlock with LitCharts A+One morning, about six months after Narayan’s return to the village, a Bhunghi ventured towards the hut. Roopa was heating water over a fire outside, happily listening to the muffled clank of the sewing-machine, when she saw the fellow approach cautiously…“I am looking for Narayan the tailor,” said the man, timidly holding up some rags…
“What?!” His audacity flabbergasted her. “Don’t give me your tailor-failor nonsense! I’ll bathe your filthy skin with this boiling water! My son does not sew for your kind!”
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Explanation and Analysis—Hindu Brothers:
Hindu nationalism is hard to sell and even harder to buy for chamaar caste members like Dukhi. During the Partition, nationalists crop up around the countryside, as described in Chapter 3, in an effort to win over their countrymen’s allegiance. More often than not, though, the situational irony makes a mockery of their nationalist pleas:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Strangers belonging to a Hindu organization that wore white shirts and khaki pants, and trained their members to march about like soldiers, had been visiting the district. They brought with them stories of Muslims attacking Hindus in many parts of the country. “We must get ready to defend ourselves,” they said. “And also to avenge ourselves. If they spill the blood of our Hindu brothers, this country shall run red with rivers of Muslim blood.”
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Galloping Inventiveness:
In Chapter 6, Omprakash and Maneck’s afternoon jaunts to Vishram's Vegetarian Hotel often become fertile ground for their raciest sexual fantasies. One such conversation features layers of dramatic irony as they size up each other’s prowess in the bedroom:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Omprakash] puffed airily at the beedi as he fabricated explorations that involved Shanti’s hair and limbs, and complicated excursions into her skirt and blouse…Catalysed by Om’s fantasies, Maneck’s inventiveness took the field at a gallop. “There was a woman in the upper berth opposite mine, very beautiful.”
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Homes for Homeless:
Political public relations campaigns are hardly cringe-free affairs—and none is more comically, brutally ironic than the one in Chapter 7. Just after razing Ishvar and Omprakash’s slum neighborhood to the ground, the work crew and policemen busy themselves with erecting billboards. The messaging adds outrageous insult to injury:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The workers were unanimous concerning the first slogan: THE CITY BELONGS TO YOU! KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL! The second was posing some difficulty. The supervisor wanted to use FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY! HOMES FOR THE HOMELESS! His subordinates advised him that something else would be more appropriate; they recommended THE NATION IS ON THE MOVE!
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Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Brother-in-Law:
Chapter 9 turns Nusswan into the victim of a humorous misunderstanding. When his secretary announces Dina and Maneck’s arrival to his office, he thrills—and then trembles—at the prospect of his sister’s remarriage. The ensuing dramatic irony merely makes a fool of him:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And this young man with her today, her boyfriend. If they were serious and got married, how wonderful…Nusswan rose and shot his cuffs, ready to extend a warm greeting to the man who would be brother-in-law. When he saw Maneck’s youth enter the office, his knees almost gave way. His crazy sister had done it again! He clutched the edge of the desk, pale with visions of shame and scandal in the community.
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Explanation and Analysis—Broken Eggs and Omelettes:
Situational irony helps the novel spotlight the illogical absurdities of Emergency-era India’s crackdown measures. When Dina and Maneck pay a visit to Nusswan’s office for money in Chapter 9, the pompous, overbearing brother tries justifying the political turmoil with an idiom. His explanation causes comic confusion more than any sense of clarity:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It’s all relative. At the best of times, democracy is a seesaw between complete chaos and tolerable confusion. You see, to make a democratic omelette you have to break a few democratic eggs. To fight fascism and other evil forces threatening our country, there is nothing wrong in taking strong measures. Especially when the foreign hand is always interfering to destabilize us.
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Explanation and Analysis—Stitches of Happiness:
As Dina awaits Ishvar and Omprakash’s return, Chapter 9 describes her strangely ironic longing to see the two tailors back in her flat. Unbeknownst to the tailoring manager, her two employees have been abducted to a work camp. But she begins to feel their absence:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Another fortnight flew by, as swiftly, it seemed to Dina, as the rows of stitches that used to spill merrily from the Singers during happier days. She did not notice that already, in her memory, those months with Ishvar and Om, of fretting and tardiness, quarrels and crooked seams, had been transmuted into something precious, to be remembered with yearning.
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Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis—Cursed Ponytails:
Shankar falls victim to an ironic, unfortunate coincidence just before his death in Chapter 14. His haircut with Rajaram goes terribly awry when he demands that the barber attach to his head two ponytails that had belonged to the recently murdered beggars. The request costs him his reputation:
Unlock with LitCharts A+What a coincidence, he said, that two thick tails of hair should be in this beggar’s possession. Speculation flourished…
“What a monster he is!” marvelled another, torn between repulsion and admiration. “Such dexterity! Even without fingers or legs, he can commit these violent crimes!”
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