Previous
Setting
Situational Irony
Explanation and Analysis—A Fatal Birthday:
The central event of “A Small, Good Thing” is an example of situational irony: the story’s central character, Scotty, suffers a fatal hit-and-run on his eighth birthday. Scotty’s life is cut short on the anniversary of his birth, the very day meant to celebrate the continuation of life:
On Monday morning, the birthday boy was walking to school with another boy. They were passing a bag of potato chips back and forth and the birthday boy was trying to find out what his friend intended to give him for his birthday that afternoon. Without looking, the birthday boy stepped off the curb at an intersection and was immediately knocked down by a car.
Carver draws attention to the irony of this tragic accident by repeatedly referring to Scotty as “the birthday boy” and by beginning the scene with the phrase “on Monday morning”—in the previous scene, “Monday” is referenced multiple times as the day on which Scotty’s mother will pick up his birthday cake from the baker.
The irony of Scotty’s fatal birthday highlights the randomness of tragedy. The notion of random tragedy recurs later in the story with Franklin, a patient in the same hospital as Scotty who dies after being stabbed at a party. Franklin’s death, too, is a misfortune that occurs during what should have been a happy occasion. In this way, “A Small, Good Thing” uses irony to show that life is marked by experiences of both sorrow and joy, and that one can transform into the other in a single instant.
Related Themes:
