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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
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Let Us Pray:
When the narrator, his wife, and his wife’s friend Robert all sit down for a meal together, the narrator uses verbal irony, as seen in the following passage:
When we sat down to the table for dinner we had another drink. My wife heaped Robert’s plate with cube steak, scalloped potatoes, green beans. […] I swallowed some of my drink. “Now let us pray,” I said, and the blind man lowered his head. My wife looked at me, her mouth agape. “Pray the phone won’t ring and the food doesn’t get cold,” I said.
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Explanation and Analysis—Pitying Beulah:
Near the beginning of the story, the narrator reflects on how “pitiful” Robert’s late wife Beulah’s life must have been because she was married to a blind man. This is an example of situational irony because, as readers soon learn, it is the narrator—not Robert—who is “blind” to the feelings and needs of his wife. The irony comes across in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself reflected in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved. A woman whose husband would never read the expression on her face, be it misery or something better.
Related Themes:
