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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 The Beautiful and Damned
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—The Inheritance:
The final chapters of The Beautiful and Damned are full of tragic situational irony. The main source of irony is that when the couple finds out about the inheritance, Anthony has already become too depressed and alcoholic to fully appreciate it. In Chapter 9, the story unfolds from the perspectives of two people who see Anthony alone on the deck of a boat. The two men speculate about his appearance and state of mind:
“That’s him,” he said, pointing to a bundled figure seated in a wheel chair near the rail. “That’s Anthony Patch. First time he’s been on deck.”
“Oh—that’s him?”
“Yes. He’s been a little crazy, they say, ever since he got his money, four or five months ago. You see, the other fellow, Shuttleworth, the religious fellow, the one that didn’t get the money, he locked himself up in a room in a hotel and shot himself——”
Related Themes:
