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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 House Made of Dawn
3. The Longhair, July 24
Explanation and Analysis—Stereotypes:
Two instances of situational irony surrounding Abel and Angela's relationship help Momaday push back against the idea that any person can be reduced to cultural stereotypes. The first instance occurs in Chapter 3, when Angela compares Abel's woodcutting to the ceremonial corn dance she recently witnessed:
[The corn dancers'] eyes were held upon some vision out of range, something away in the end of the distance, some reality that she did not know, or even suspect. What was it that they saw? Probably they saw nothing after all, nothing at all. But then that was the trick, wasn't it? To see nothing at all, nothing in the absolute. To see beyond the landscape, beyond every shape and shadow and color, that was to see nothing. That was to be free and finished, complete, spiritual.
Related Themes:
10. The Night Chanter, February 20
Explanation and Analysis—Silly Questions:
In Chapter 10, Ben Benally recalls a time when Abel disappeared for three days and turned up again with broken hands. He describes the situational irony of the questions the nurses asked him at the hospital:
Unlock with LitCharts A+After a while it got light outside, and one of the nurses came up to me and started asking me a lot of questions. They were silly questions, all about his family and his medical record and insurance and everything like that. I didn't know how to answer most of them, and I kept trying to get her to tell me how he was. She just went on, like those questions were the most important thing of all and acting like maybe I wasn't telling her the truth.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Stereotypes:
Two instances of situational irony surrounding Abel and Angela's relationship help Momaday push back against the idea that any person can be reduced to cultural stereotypes. The first instance occurs in Chapter 3, when Angela compares Abel's woodcutting to the ceremonial corn dance she recently witnessed:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[The corn dancers'] eyes were held upon some vision out of range, something away in the end of the distance, some reality that she did not know, or even suspect. What was it that they saw? Probably they saw nothing after all, nothing at all. But then that was the trick, wasn't it? To see nothing at all, nothing in the absolute. To see beyond the landscape, beyond every shape and shadow and color, that was to see nothing. That was to be free and finished, complete, spiritual.
Related Themes:
