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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Key Examples in Flowers for Algernon
Progress Report 8
Explanation and Analysis—Keep My Frends:
Keyes uses dramatic irony in this passage to reveal the painful truth behind Charlie’s so-called “friendships." Here, Charlie describes a moment with Frank, Joe, and Gimpy when he believes he’s among friends:
[...] Frank laffed and said dont go getting so eddicated that you wont talk to your old frends. I said dont worry I will always keep my old frends even if I can read and rite. He was laffing and Joe Carp was laffing but Gimpy came in and told them to get back to making rolls. They are all good frends to me.
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Progress Report 17
Explanation and Analysis—I Don't Think Its Me:
In this bittersweet passage from the end of the novel, the author uses dramatic irony and a simile describing a memory to show Charlie’s growing separation from his former self. Charlie tries to remember what it was like to read and begins to see his past self from the outside:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I remembir a littel bit how nice I had a feeling with the blue book that I red with the toren cover. And when I close my eyes I think about the man who tored the book and he looks like me only he looks different and he talks different but I dont think its me because its like I see him from the window.
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