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
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—All About My Sort:
As Michael grows older and grapples with the difficult truth of his birth, he seeks new ways of conceiving of his background—and understanding how it shapes his identity. At the age of ten, he unites his study of English literature and history with his self-examination through two allusions in a conversation with Helen. This conversation is punctuated by dramatic irony.
But don’t you bother, Auntie. I’ve found out all about my sort in English Hist’ry and the Shakespeare bits. There was William the Conqueror to begin with, and – oh, heaps more, and they all got on first-rate. ’Twon’t make any difference to you, my being that – will it?
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Everyone in the Village:
The story's expositional passages contain a large amount of colloquial language that develops the collective voice of the village. Although the story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, the narration here is focalized from the perspective of the village and eventually of Helen. Contributing to Helen's characterization, the idioms and similes establish her outward persona and give insight into the community she belongs to. The chatter-like tone of the opening passages contrasts sharply with the formal, somber epigraph.
Unlock with LitCharts A+Mercifully, George's father and mother were both dead, and though Helen, thirty-five and independent, might well have washed her hands of the whole disgraceful affair, she most nobly took charge.
Related Themes:
