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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
Key Examples in Fahrenheit 451
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Unlocked Doors:
In Part 1, the firemen's destruction of the woman's house is described with metaphorical language and characterized by situational irony.
Next thing they were up in musty blackness swinging silver hatchets at doors that were, after all, unlocked, tumbling through like boys all rollick and shout. “Hey!” A fountain of books sprang down upon Montag as he climbed shuddering up the sheer stairwell. How inconvenient! Always before it had been like snuffing a candle.
Explanation and Analysis—Benjamin Franklin:
In Part 1, the firefighter's handbook contains an ironically incorrect allusion to early American history.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Stoneman and Black drew forth their rule books, which also contained brief histories of the Firemen of America, and laid them out where Montag, though long familiar with them, might read: Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the Colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin.
Related Themes:
Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—Poor Family:
In Part 3, when Guy realizes the fire truck has stopped in front of his house, his wife runs out into a taxi in an ironic moment.
Unlock with LitCharts A+She shoved the valise in the waiting beetle, climbed in, and sat mumbling, “Poor family, poor family, oh everything gone, everything, everything gone now. . . .”
Related Themes:
