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Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—All I Can:
In Chapter 1, Richard's family goes to court to try to win child support from the now-long-absent father. Richard describes, in terrible detail, how his mother cries profusely in court: she "began weeping so copiously that she could not talk for a few moments." But the outcome, nonetheless, is frustratingly ironic:
For some reason the entire thing struck me as being useless; I felt that if my father were going to feed me, then he would have done so regardless of what the judge said to him [...] at last she managed to say that her husband had deserted her and her two children, that her children were hungry, that they stayed hungry, that she worked, that she was trying to raise them alone. [...] I only heard one sentence of what he said.
"I'm doing all I can, Your Honor," he mumbled, grinning.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Wanna Drink, Boy?:
At the beginning of Chapter 9, Richard is now 17 and works full time for a clothing store and sometimes makes deliveries by bicycle. One day, he blows a tire and is forced to walk back to the city from the suburbs on a hot summer day. But some young White men who seem to be nice enough offer for him to ride along on their running board. They are drinking in the car, and they offer him a drink, creating a darkly ironic situation:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Wanna drink, boy?" one asked.
The memory of my six-year-old drinking came back and filled me with caution. But I laughed, the wind whipping my face.
"Oh, no!" I said.
The words were barely out of my mouth before I felt some thing hard and cold smash me between the eyes. It was an empty whisky bottle. [...]
"Ain't you learned no better sense'n that yet?" asked the man who hit me. "Ain't you learned to say sir to a white man yet?"
Related Themes:
