Previous
Tone
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
Key Examples in Good Country People
Verbal Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Good Country People:
The title of “Good Country People” is an example of verbal irony. This is because, while many characters in the story are described as “good country people,” none of them actually are. As readers learn over the course of the story, all of the characters treat one another with condescension or cruelty (or, at the very least, think unkind thoughts about one another), making them far from simple and “good” country people.
The following passage—in which the Bible Salesman reveals to Hulga that he is a seedy con man—captures the irony of the phrase “good country people” being applied to him:
The boy was unscrewing the top of the flask. He stopped and pointed, with a smile, to the deck of cards. It was not an ordinary deck but one with an obscene picture on the back of each card. “Take a swig,” he said, offering her the bottle first. He held it in front of her, but like one mesmerized, she did not move.
Her voice when she spoke had an almost pleading sound. “Aren’t you,” she murmured, “aren’t you just good country people?”
Related Themes:
