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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
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Poor Little Hubby:
When Mrs. Kernan brings a tray of beer for her husband’s friends who are visiting their home, her husband asks her what she’s brought for him, using verbal irony in the process:
Her husband called out to her:
—And have you nothing for me, duckie?
—O, you! The back of my hand to you! said Mrs Kernan tartly.
Her husband called after her:
—Nothing for poor little hubby!
He assumed such a comical face and voice that the distribution of the bottles of stout took place amid general merriment.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Incorrect Papal Mottos:
In an example of situational irony, Kernan’s friends try to impress him (and each other) by sharing their knowledge of Catholicism, only to get their facts extremely wrong. In the following passage, for example, the men make several incorrect claims about papal mottos:
Unlock with LitCharts A+—So he was, said Mr Cunningham, if not the most so. His motto, you know, as Pope, was Lux upon Lux—Light upon Light.
—No, no, said Mr Fogarty eagerly. I think you’re wrong there. It was Lux in Tenebris, I think—Light in Darkness.
—O yes, said Mr M’Coy, Tenebrae.
—Allow me, said Mr Cunningham positively, it was Lux upon Lux. And Pius IX. his predecessor’s motto was Crux upon Crux that is, Cross upon Cross—to show the difference between their two pontificates.
Related Themes:
