In Chapter 18, when Mary is describing her new friend Dickon to Colin Craven, she accidentally provokes Colin's jealousy by insisting that Dickon is "like an angel!" Burnett uses situational irony to amuse the reader in this instance, but also to illustrate Mary's real and unblemished love for this charming young Yorskhireman:
“He’s nicer than any other boy that ever lived!” she said. “He’s—he’s like an angel!” It might sound rather silly to say that but she did not care. “A nice angel!” Colin sneered ferociously. “He’s a common cottage boy off the moor!” “He’s better than a common Rajah!” retorted Mary. “He’s a thousand times better!”
The reader knows that Colin is jealous, as the narrator says so just before this, and Mary's comments just inflame this feeling. The narrator also wryly notes that this is hyperbole, as it's such strong praise that it "sounds rather silly to say." Dickon is of course not like an angel, but is in fact "a common cottage boy off the moor" with "ruddy" coloring and holes in his trousers.
However, this insult doesn't mean what Colin thinks it means. Dickon's excellent, loving, and "open" character makes him beloved by everyone and welcome everywhere. He is welcome both in Misselthwaite Manor and in the tiny cottages of Thwaite because of his unusually excellent qualities. He may be a cottage boy, but he is not a "common" one. Both the use of "angel" and "common cottage boy" are ironic in this instance: Dickon is both and neither.
Burnett uses irony here to demonstrate how little Colin and Mary understand their own feelings at this point and also to show Colin's possessive feelings over Mary. In Chapter 18, when Colin apologizes to Mary for his tantrum, the irony is resolved as he says:
“Well, it was rather funny to say it,” [...] “because his nose does turn up and he has a big mouth and his clothes have patches all over them and he talks broad Yorkshire, but—but if an angel did come to Yorkshire and live on the moor—if there was a Yorkshire angel—I believe he’d understand the green things and know how to make them grow and he would know how to talk to the wild creatures as Dickon does and they’d know he was friends for sure.”
As Colin is always being told that imperfections in his physical appearance represent faults in his character, the idea of calling a funny-looking child like Dickon an "angel" is quite alien to him. People who are very good and very beloved are, in his mind, supposed to be very beautiful as a result. He is able to recognize that Dickon's appearance doesn't mean anything about his personality in this hypothetical statement, with the caveat that Dickon would have to be a "Yorkshire" angel were he one at all.
In Chapter 18, when Mary is describing her new friend Dickon to Colin Craven, she accidentally provokes Colin's jealousy by insisting that Dickon is "like an angel!" Burnett uses situational irony to amuse the reader in this instance, but also to illustrate Mary's real and unblemished love for this charming young Yorskhireman:
“He’s nicer than any other boy that ever lived!” she said. “He’s—he’s like an angel!” It might sound rather silly to say that but she did not care. “A nice angel!” Colin sneered ferociously. “He’s a common cottage boy off the moor!” “He’s better than a common Rajah!” retorted Mary. “He’s a thousand times better!”
The reader knows that Colin is jealous, as the narrator says so just before this, and Mary's comments just inflame this feeling. The narrator also wryly notes that this is hyperbole, as it's such strong praise that it "sounds rather silly to say." Dickon is of course not like an angel, but is in fact "a common cottage boy off the moor" with "ruddy" coloring and holes in his trousers.
However, this insult doesn't mean what Colin thinks it means. Dickon's excellent, loving, and "open" character makes him beloved by everyone and welcome everywhere. He is welcome both in Misselthwaite Manor and in the tiny cottages of Thwaite because of his unusually excellent qualities. He may be a cottage boy, but he is not a "common" one. Both the use of "angel" and "common cottage boy" are ironic in this instance: Dickon is both and neither.
Burnett uses irony here to demonstrate how little Colin and Mary understand their own feelings at this point and also to show Colin's possessive feelings over Mary. In Chapter 18, when Colin apologizes to Mary for his tantrum, the irony is resolved as he says:
“Well, it was rather funny to say it,” [...] “because his nose does turn up and he has a big mouth and his clothes have patches all over them and he talks broad Yorkshire, but—but if an angel did come to Yorkshire and live on the moor—if there was a Yorkshire angel—I believe he’d understand the green things and know how to make them grow and he would know how to talk to the wild creatures as Dickon does and they’d know he was friends for sure.”
As Colin is always being told that imperfections in his physical appearance represent faults in his character, the idea of calling a funny-looking child like Dickon an "angel" is quite alien to him. People who are very good and very beloved are, in his mind, supposed to be very beautiful as a result. He is able to recognize that Dickon's appearance doesn't mean anything about his personality in this hypothetical statement, with the caveat that Dickon would have to be a "Yorkshire" angel were he one at all.
