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Dramatic Irony
Key Examples in Memoirs of a Geisha
Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—Yellow Pickles:
In a passage marked with dramatic irony, Mother fails to recognize that her yellowed teeth are the result of her nonstop pipe-smoking. When she sees Sayuri eating yellow pickles, she warns her against them, falsely suspecting that they stain a person's teeth due to their own yellow color:
After a time she put down her pipe and said, “You shouldn’t eat those yellow pickles. They’ll rot your teeth. Look at what they did to mine.”
It had never occurred to me that Mother believed her stained teeth had anything to do with eating pickles. When she’d finished giving me a good view of her mouth, she picked up her pipe again and took in a puff of smoke.
“Auntie loves yellow pickles, ma’am,” I said, “and her teeth are fine.”
“Who cares if Auntie’s teeth are fine?"
Related Themes:
