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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
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Walter’s Death:
In an example of situational irony, Elizabeth spends the first half of the story believing (and convincing readers) that Walter hasn’t come home because he went out drinking after work, only to discover that he was in a mining accident and died. The tragic irony comes across in the following passage, in which Elizabeth rants to her children about Walter prioritizing going to a pub over coming home for dinner:
When she rose her anger was evident in the stern unbending of her head. She looked at the pudding in the fender, and broke out:
“It is a scandalous thing as a man can’t even come in to his dinner. If it’s crozzled up to a cinder I don’t see why I should care. Past his very door he goes to get to a public house, and here I sit with his dinner waiting for him——”
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