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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 3
Explanation and Analysis—A Fox :
In a scene suffused with dramatic irony, an adolescent Demon fails to understand a euphemistic conversation between Stoner and his friends:
Extra Eye said, “A fox is going to whelp her pups, Stoner. You’re lucky it’s just the one.” And Stoner said he’d better watch it because some people are smarter than you think [...]
Stoner asked what they would do if they found a cherry Camaro they wanted to buy, but it came with a trailer on the back. “To buy, or just take for a hard run?” Extra Eye wanted to know, and Reeker asked, “How firm is the hitch, man?” All three of them laughing their asses off. I sat there [...] confused by all that was said.
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Chapter 16
Explanation and Analysis—The Fruit and the Fall :
The novel alludes to the biblical story of the temptation of Eve by Satan in a passage that describes the opioid crisis that profoundly affected Appalachia after the drug OxyContin was approved by the FDA, or the Federal Drug Administration, in 1995:
Unlock with LitCharts A+What’s an oxy, I’d asked. That November it was still a shiny new thing. OxyContin, God’s gift for the laid-off deep-hole man with his back and neck bones grinding like bags of gravel. For the bent-over lady pulling double shifts at Dollar General with her shot knees and ADHD grandkids to raise by herself. For every football player with some of this or that torn up, and the whole world riding on his getting back in the game. This was our deliverance. The tree was shaken and yes, we did eat of the apple.
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Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—Repossession :
While describing the difficult financial predicament of the McCobs, Demon highlights the situational irony of the fact that those who most need money are often barred from finding gainful employment:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Meanwhile the McCobbs were in some serious shit. Their car got repossessed. It was a late-model Dodge Spirit, leased, sky blue, none of that I guess being the point. Mr. McCobb couldn’t get to work anymore, so he lost his job, was the point. You tell me why it makes sense for guys wanting money from you to come and take your car, so you can’t earn another dime. That’s the grown-up version I guess of teachers yelling at you for hating school.
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Chapter 42
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Nurse:
Demon uses an ironic simile that compares Dori to a nurse when she injects fentanyl, an addictive synthetic opioid:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The next surprise won’t ever leave my brain. The kit she took out of her purse. The spoon she used first, to scrape the patch. The lighter she held underneath. The cotton ball, the syringe, pulling the cap off the needle and holding it in her mouth like a nurse giving booster shots. I don’t know what I said but she could tell I was scared, and she was sweet with me, the same voice she used with Jip. She’d been saving this, because the first time you do it with somebody, they say it’s the best you’ll ever feel in your life.
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