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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
Key Examples in Middlesex
Book 1: An Immodest Proposal
Explanation and Analysis—Tasteful Blend:
In the following passage from Chapter 3, Cal/lie outlines Smyrna's cosmopolitan roots, ironically referring to the Greek city as a hub for international, intercultural exchange:
[...] Smyrna, the most cosmopolitan city in the Near East. Among its reputed founders were, first, the Amazons (which goes nicely with my theme), and second, Tantalus himself. Homer was born there, and Aristotle Onassis. In Smyrna, East and West, opera and politakia, violin and zourna, piano and daouli blended as tastefully as did the rose petals and honey in the local pastries.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Smyrna Tobacco:
Over the duration of Chapter 3, the Greek and allied armies slowly withdraw from Smyrna, leaving the refugee-packed city defenseless to the oncoming Turkish army. The British soldiers display shockingly little regard for their fellow Europeans—now refugees—even degrading them in the following example of situational irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“There’s nothing we can do about it, Phillips. I’ve spent years in the Near East. The one lesson I’ve learned is that there is nothing you can do with these people. [...] They’ve burned down the whole country and now they swarm in here crying for help. Nice cigar, what?”
“Awfully good, sir.”
“Smyrna tobacco. Finest in the world. Brings a tear to my eyes, Phillips, the thought of all that tobacco lying in those warehouses out there.”
“Perhaps we could send a detail to save the tobacco, sir.”
Related Themes:
Book 2: Henry Ford’s English-Language Melting Pot
Explanation and Analysis—Trees:
In the following example of imagery and simile, Cal/lie compares the exhaust stacks at the auto plant to a "grove of trees":
Unlock with LitCharts A+The main building, a fortress of dark brick, was seven stories high, the smokestacks seventeen. Running off it were two chutes topped by water towers. These led to observation decks and to adjoining refineries studded with less impressive stacks. It was like a grove of trees, as if the Rouge’s eight main smokestacks had sown seeds to the wind, and now ten or twenty or fifty smaller trunks were sprouting up in the infertile soil around the plant.
Related Themes:
