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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
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Real Wood, Fake Paint:
In Chapter 3, as the narrator describes Lapham's idea of a house, he says the following:
Black walnut was to be used everywhere except in the attic, which was to be painted and grained to look like black walnut. The whole was to be very high studded, and there were to be handsome cornices and elaborate centerpieces throughout, except, again, in the attic.
Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—Lying to Persis:
In Chapter 23, Persis confronts Silas about his lying and questions who the "Mrs. M." that he sends money to is, leading to a moment of verbal irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+After a silence, which he did not seem inclined to break, “Silas,” she asked, “who is ‘Mrs. M.’?”
He stared at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?” she returned mockingly. “When you do, you tell me."
Related Themes:
Chapter 26
Explanation and Analysis—Persis's Worries:
In Chapter 26, the presence of Zerrilla at the office makes Persis uncomfortable, although the audience knows she is the daughter of Jim Millon, one of Silas's fellow soldiers in the war, making Persis's confusion about her identity an example of dramatic irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Then she became aware with intolerable disappointment that her husband was not there. Instead, a very pretty girl sat at his desk, operating a typewriter. She seemed quite at home, and she paid Mrs. Lapham the scant attention which such young women often bestow upon people not personally interesting to them. It vexed the wife that anyone else should seem to be helping her husband about business that she had once been so intimate with; and she did not at all like the girl’s indifference to her presence.
Related Themes:
