Previous
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
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Ownership and Prison:
After some time in A-Io, Shevek is questioned by Chifoilisk about his goals on Urras, and he is asked to consider supporting Chifoilisk's nation, Thu. He refuses, claiming that Thu fears Shevek's potential to reignite the revolution and resume the Thuvian state's transformation into an anarchist society. But when Chifoilisk warns him of the Ioti government's selfishness, Shevek takes the warning to heart. The conversation is an opportunity for Shevek to articulate his reasons for traveling to Urras and his plans now that he is among the Urrasti. His comments reflect both his original motivations and his deepened understanding of Urrasti culture, and he uses situational irony to make his point:
Here in A-Io they fear me less because they have forgotten the revolution. They don’t believe in it any more. They think if people can possess enough things they will be content to live in prison. But I will not believe that. I want the walls down. I want solidarity, human solidarity. I want free exchange between Urras and Anarres. I worked for it as I could on Anarres, now I work for it as I can on Urras. There, I acted. Here, I bargain.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Bedap and Shevek:
In Shevek's third year at the institute in Abbenay, he has a chance encounter with his childhood friend Bedap. The two run into each other as Shevek is walking home from his mentor's funeral. Shevek is feeling dejected and thinking about how meaningless his life has become, and his conversation with Bedap puts him in a new frame of mind. Bedap has become fiercely critical of Annaresti society, and the two men argue before agreeing to spend the night together. They take up a brief romantic relationship before separating, having rekindled their friendship. They see each other almost daily and continue to argue fiercely, as the two men are opposites in many ways, though, ironically, their disagreements do little to impede their friendship:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Yet Shevek sometimes wondered, as he went on seeing Bedap almost daily, what it was he liked and trusted in his friend. He found Bedap’s present opinions detestable and his insistence on talking about them tiresome. They argued fiercely almost every time they met. They caused each other a good deal of pain. Leaving Bedap, Shevek frequently accused himself of merely clinging to an outgrown loyalty, and swore angrily not to see Bedap again. But the fact was that he liked Bedap more as a man than he ever had as a boy.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Hypocrisy on Anarres:
When Shevek learns about his friend Tirin's fate—criticized and ostracized for his art, driven to a psychological break—he reflects on the developments that have taken place in Anarresti society. At this point in the novel, Shevek has come to terms with much of the societal critique that his friend Bedap has offered and is willing to think critically about Anarres and its flaws. In seeking to uphold the social conscience, Anarres has diverged from the ideals set out by Odo and the oppressive systems that caused the settlers to leave Urras in the first place. With this in mind, he outlines the situational irony at play in their current circumstances:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“We have created crime, just as the propertarians did. We force a man outside the sphere of our approval, and then condemn him for it. We’ve made laws, laws of conventional behavior, built walls all around ourselves, and we can’t see them, because they’re part of our thinking."
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Tirin's Play:
Shevek's childhood friend Tirin writes a satirical play about an Urrasti who smuggles himself onto Annares and tries to impose a capitalist system on the planet. The play lands Tirin in trouble—audiences interpret it as an immoral work, and the criticism, Shevek speculates, breaks Tirin's spirit. By the time the reader learns of Tirin’s play, they have already witnessed Shevek’s ill-fated attempt to become part of Urrasti society. In the play, the self-styled “Owner of Annares” attempts to practice capitalism in an anarchist society and is met with indifference to humorous results. On Urras, Shevek tries to enlighten the Urrasti to the values of Odonian society, but the response from his upper-class audiences ranges from polite disinterest to willful disagreement.
When Shevek and Takver discuss the possibility of Shevek's journey, he recalls the play to argue for the absurdity of the plan, and the narrative thus employs dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“What a crazy idea! Like Tirin’s play, only backwards. I’m to go subvert the anarchists. . . . Well, it would at least prove to them that Anarres exists. They talk with us on the radio, but I don’t think they really believe in us. In what we are.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Tirin's Play:
Shevek's childhood friend Tirin writes a satirical play about an Urrasti who smuggles himself onto Annares and tries to impose a capitalist system on the planet. The play lands Tirin in trouble—audiences interpret it as an immoral work, and the criticism, Shevek speculates, breaks Tirin's spirit. By the time the reader learns of Tirin’s play, they have already witnessed Shevek’s ill-fated attempt to become part of Urrasti society. In the play, the self-styled “Owner of Annares” attempts to practice capitalism in an anarchist society and is met with indifference to humorous results. On Urras, Shevek tries to enlighten the Urrasti to the values of Odonian society, but the response from his upper-class audiences ranges from polite disinterest to willful disagreement.
When Shevek and Takver discuss the possibility of Shevek's journey, he recalls the play to argue for the absurdity of the plan, and the narrative thus employs dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“What a crazy idea! Like Tirin’s play, only backwards. I’m to go subvert the anarchists. . . . Well, it would at least prove to them that Anarres exists. They talk with us on the radio, but I don’t think they really believe in us. In what we are.”
Related Themes:
