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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
Key Examples in Recitatif
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—The Gar Girls:
Twyla remembers the gar girls and discovers the situational irony (from her now-adult perspective) of their vulnerability, despite her childish fear of the older girls:
The big girls on the second floor pushed us around now and then. But that was all. They wore lipstick and eyebrow pencil and wobbled their knees while they watched TV. Fifteen, sixteen, even, some of them were. They were put-out girls, scared runaways most of them. Poor little girls who fought their uncles off but looked tough to us, and mean. God did they look mean.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Mary at Chapel:
Mary's visit to St. Bonny's is a moment of situational irony, where the role reversal between mother and daughter is made clear:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I saw Mary right away. She had on those green slacks I hated and hated even more now because didn’t she know we were going to chapel? And that fur jacket with the pocket linings so ripped she had to pull to get her hands out of them. But her face was pretty—like always, and she smiled and waved like she was the little girl looking for her mother—not me.
Related Themes:
