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Dialect
Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Book 2
Explanation and Analysis—In Blackness:
In a moment of dramatic irony in Book 2, Bigger eats dinner with the Dalton family just as Mrs. Dalton receives Bigger's fake ransom letter. No one in the kitchen but Bigger knows the letter's real origin. Bigger reacts to this instance of dramatic irony with great fear. He feels the winds of fate swirling ever closer around him:
He was tensely eager to stay and see how it would all end, even if that end swallowed him in blackness. He felt that he was living upon a high pinnacle where bracing winds whipped about him.
Explanation and Analysis—We Like That:
In Book 2, Bigger stops at the soda fountain on his way from his family's house to the Daltons' house, planning to check on the state of Mary's corpse in the furnace. At the soda fountain, Bigger runs into his friends, G.H., Gus, and Jack. Having taken a roll of bills from Mary's purse, Bigger implies that his new job has made him wealthy overnight, and he buys his friends packs of cigarettes and hands out dollar bills. In a moment of dramatic irony, they chat about how Mary was in Trader Horn, the movie Jack saw with Bigger early in Book 1:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Jack was telling me you saw the gal in the movie you suppose to drive around. Did you?"
"Sure."
"How is she?"
"Aw, we like that," Bigger said, crossing his fingers. He was trembling with excitement; sweat was on his forehead. He was excited and something was impelling him to become more excited. It was like a thirst springing from his blood.
