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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
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Aunt Polly’s Threats:
Throughout The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly threatens to punish Tom for his actions—including threatening to physically beat him—but she rarely does. This is an example of situational irony because readers expect Aunt Polly—as a pious and sincere woman—to follow through on her word.
In an early scene in the novel, Aunt Polly even goes as far as to raise a switch at Tom, but ultimately laughs when he escapes:
The switch hovered in the air—the peril was desperate—
“My! Look behind you, aunt!”
The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad fled, on the instant, scrambled up the high board fence, and disappeared over it.
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh.
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Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Whitewashing The Fence:
In an example of dramatic irony, Tom convinces all of his friends to spend hours whitewashing Aunt Polly’s fence. This is a chore that readers know Tom was given as a punishment for playing hooky from school, but one that he frames for his friends as a privilege, such as in this conversation with Ben Rogers:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you like it?”
The brush continued to move.
“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”
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Chapter 17
Explanation and Analysis—The Funeral:
In an example of dramatic irony, Tom, Huck, and Joe sneak into the funeral that the village holds for them when all of the townspeople believe the boys to be dead. (In reality, the three of them were secretly living on Jackson’s Island to play pirates and engage in other fantasies.) Twain captures the irony of the moment as he describes the “three dead boys” walking into the church:
Unlock with LitCharts A+First one and then another pair of eyes followed the minister’s, and then almost with one impulse the congregation rose and stared while the three dead boys came marching up the aisle, Tom in the lead, Joe next, and Huck, a ruin of drooping rags, sneaking sheepishly in the rear! They had been hid in the unused gallery listening to their own funeral sermon!
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Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—Tom in the Cadets:
For a brief time, Tom joins the Cadets of Temperance, a group of children who were—historically speaking—part of the anti-alcohol temperance movement. The situational irony is that Tom doesn’t join for any principled reasons, but because he wants to wear a sash:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Tom joined the new order of Cadets of Temperance, being attracted by the showy character of their “regalia.” He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing, and profanity as long as he remained a member […] Tom soon found himself tormented with a desire to drink and swear; the desire grew to be so intense that nothing but the hope of a chance to display himself in his red sash kept him from withdrawing from the order.
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Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—Tom’s Testimony:
In an example of situational irony, Tom makes Huck swear that neither of them will reveal that they saw Injun Joe kill Dr. Robinson, and then he promptly turns around and testifies in court saying exactly that. When Tom asks Huck to promise that he will not tell the truth, he is extremely serious about it (making Huck swear with “dread solemnities”):
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Huck, they couldn’t anybody get you to tell, could they?”
“Get me to tell? Why, if I wanted that half-breed devil to drownd me they could get me to tell. They ain’t no different way.”
“Well, that’s all right, then. I reckon we’re safe as long as we keep mum. But let’s swear again, anyway. It’s more surer.”
“I’m agreed.”
So they swore again with dread solemnities.
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Chapter 33
Explanation and Analysis—Grieving Injun Joe:
Despite the fact that Injun Joe is a known murderer, a group of women from the village draft a petition to the Governor to pardon him—an example of situational irony. Readers expect the village to stand behind the families of the victims, but, instead, they go into “deep mourning”:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The petition had been largely signed; many tearful and eloquent meetings had been held, and a committee of sappy women been appointed to go in deep mourning and wail around the Governor, and implore him to be a merciful ass and trample his duty underfoot. Injun Joe was believed to have killed five citizens of the village, but what of that? If he had been Satan himself there would have been plenty of weaklings ready to scribble their names to a pardon petition, and drip a tear on it from their permanently impaired and leaky waterworks.
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