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Motifs
Definition of Paradox
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar Wilde's famous declaration that "Life is... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel of truth or reason. Oscar... read full definition
A paradox is a figure of speech that seems to contradict itself, but which, upon further examination, contains some kernel... read full definition
Prologue
Explanation and Analysis—Broadway's Lights:
In describing the “hole” into which he has retreated, siphoning large amounts of energy from the Monopolated Light & Power Company, the narrator uses a paradox:
My hole is warm and full of light. Yes, full of light. I doubt if there is a brighter spot in all New York than this hole of mine, and I do not exclude Broadway. Or the Empire State Building on a photographer’s dream night. But that is taking advantage of you. Those two spots are among the darkest of our whole civilization—pardon me, our whole culture (an important distinction, I’ve heard)—which might sound like a hoax, or a contradiction, but that (by contradiction, I mean) is how the world moves.
Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—Wrong But Justified:
After finding himself in a dangerous position, trapped in the midst of a riot between the police and the homicidal Ras the Destroyer, the narrator escapes and overhears a group of men joking about Ras’s eccentric behavior. Reflecting on recent events, the narrator uses a series of paradoxes and a metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+They were laughing outside the hedge and leaving and I lay in a cramp, wanting to laugh and yet knowing that Ras was not funny, or not only funny, but dangerous as well, wrong but justified, crazy and yet coldly sane … Why did they make it seem funny, only funny? I thought. And yet knowing that it was. It was funny and dangerous and sad. Jack had seen it, or had stumbled upon it and used it to prepare a sacrifice. And I had been used as a tool.
