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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
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Nanny’s Sarcasm:
When Sarah and Nanny are discussing the fact that their home is in no shape for Nanny’s wedding, Nanny uses verbal irony. She does so in order to communicate her frustration over the fact that Adoniram is building a new barn instead of a new house, as seen in the following passage (which opens with Nanny speaking):
“I’ve been thinking—I don’t see how we’re goin’ to have any—wedding in this room. I’d be ashamed to have his folks come if we didn’t have anybody else.”
“Mebbe we can have some new paper before then; I can put it on. I guess you won’t have no call to be ashamed of your belongin’s.”
“We might have the wedding in the new barn,” said Nanny, with gentle pettishness.
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Explanation and Analysis—Sarah’s Victory:
Given the way that, over the course of the story, Adoniram ignores and belittles Sarah’s pleas for a new house instead of a new barn, readers would expect him to be furious when he finds that Sarah has moved their children and all of their belongings into the newly finished barn. The fact that Adoniram instead accepts Sarah’s act of rebellion and is even emotionally moved by it makes this moment an example of situational irony.
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