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Verbal Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Dreadfully Unsympathetic:
Mansfield uses verbal irony to highlight the Sheridan family’s emotional detachment and ignorance:
[Jose] looked mournfully and enigmatically at her mother and Laura as they came in.
This Life is Wee-ary
A Tear—a Sigh.
A Love that Chan-ges,
This Life is Wee-ary,
A Tear—a Sigh.
A Love that Chan-ges,
And then … Good-bye!
But at the word “Good-bye,” and although the piano sounded more desperate than ever, her face broke into a brilliant, dreadfully unsympathetic smile. “Aren’t I in good voice, mummy?” she beamed.
In the passage above, Jose proudly puts on a performance for her mother and sister Laura. Her face appears “mournfully and enigmatically” to reflect the song’s somber subject matter. However, at the very moment the song is at its most mournful, Jose ironically smiles. The nature of her smile, “dreadfully unsympathetic,” mirrors the Sheridans’ overall unsympathetic response to Scott’s death. Significantly, it also foreshadows the moment Laura views Scott’s dead body, when she feels happy rather than mournful or somber. This moment thus Mansfield suggests that the Sheridans are numb to other people’s pain and thus may be unable to cross class boundaries and empathize with others in a meaningful way.
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