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Imagery
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—Arms Pinwheeling:
During Willie's riotous speech in Upton, Tiny Duffy, his political rival, tries to come on stage and contradict him to the audience. But Willie, drunk and hungover from the previous night and in a fit of passion, pushes Duffy off the stage, and he falls in quite humorous fashion:
I don't know whether Willie meant to do it. But anyway, he did it. He didn't exactly shove Duffy off the platform. He just started Duffy doing a dance along the edge, a kind of delicate, feather-toed, bemused, slow-motion adagio accompanied by arms pinwheeling around a face which was like a surprised custard pie with a hole scooped in the middle of the meringue, and the hole was Duffy's mouth, but no sound came out of it. There wasn't a sound over that five-acre tract of sweating humanity. They just watched Duffy do his dance.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Delicate Little Root:
In Chapter 5, Jack researches the Irwin case and digs deep into the judge's past. Slowly, he starts to figure out the story of the bribe that got Irwin hired by the American Electric Power Company: "I was not prepared to say that I knew what God and man are, but I was getting ready to make a shrewd guess about a particular man. But just a guess." Jack describes his findings using a delicate metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I plucked the flower out of its cranny and discovered an astonishing botanical fact. I discovered that its delicate little root, with many loops and kinks, ran all the way to New York City, where it tapped the lush dung heap called the Madison Corporation. The flower in the cranny was the Southern Belle Fuel Company. So I plucked another little flower called the American Electric Power Company, and discovered that its little delicate root tapped the same dung heap.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Man Who Got Hanged:
In Chapter 5, Jack visits the home of the Scholarly Attorney and meets George, the strangest character in the novel and one of the most sympathetic. The Scholarly Attorney tells Jack that George used to be a circus performer, but he was forced to leave. Jack, typically, is curious to know more:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"What was his act?"
"He was the man who got hanged."
"Oh," I said, and looked at George. That accounted for the big neck, no doubt. Then, "Did the apparatus go wrong with him and choke him or something?"
"No," the Scholarly Attorney said, "the whole matter simply grew distasteful to him."
Related Themes:
