|
Have questions?
Contact us
Already a member? Sign in
|
Get every literary device explanation for What We Talk About When We Talk About LovePlus so much more...
Sign up for LitCharts A+Get instant access to every literary device explanation, plus so much more...
Irony
Explanation and Analysis—National Safety Council:
During Mel’s story about the elderly couple he treated who were badly injured in a car accident, he notes that their seatbelts likely saved their lives. His wife Terri then interrupts him, using verbal irony to comment on this statement, as seen in the following passage:
"I'd say she was worse off than he was. Ruptured spleen along with everything else. Both kneecaps broken. But they'd been wearing their seatbelts and, God knows, that's what saved them for the time being."
"Folks, this is an advertisement for the National Safety Council," Terri said. "This is your spokesman, Dr. Melvin R. McGinnis, talking." Terri laughed. “Mel,” she said, "sometimes you're just too much. But I love you, hon," she said.
Terri uses verbal irony here when mocking Mel for his focus on seatbelt safety. When she says "Folks, this is an advertisement for the National Safety Council" and pretends to be speaking from Mel’s perspective, she is ironically pointing out how strange it is for Mel to be speaking at this casual gathering with their friends about the importance of seatbelts. Terri makes her sarcastic intentions clear by then telling Mel directly, “[S]ometimes you’re just too much.”
Here, as elsewhere in the story, Terri seems to be drawing Nick and Laura’s attention to the fact that she is aware that Mel is drunk and not behaving appropriately. Carver juxtaposes the messy relational dynamic between Terri and Mel with the easeful and loving dynamic between Nick and Laura, suggesting that couples who speak less (and don’t try to perform their love or put it into words) can sometimes actually communicate (and embody) their love more deeply and effectively.
Monthly
Annual (Best Value)
$595USD/mo
Charged $71.40 USD every year
Teacher$795USD/mo
Charged $95.40 USD every year
Literature Guide PDFs
LitCharts PDFs for every book you'll read this year.
Instant PDF downloads of all 2247 LitCharts literature guides and of every new one we publish. Try a free sample literature guide.
"Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!"
Quotes Explanations
Find the perfect quote. Understand it perfectly. Then rock the citation, too.
For all 50,101 quotes we cover.
For all 50,101 quotes we cover.
Teacher Editions
Close reading made easy for students.
Time saved for teachers.
For every book we cover.
Time saved for teachers.
For every book we cover.
Common Core-aligned
PDFs of modern translations of every one of Shakespeare's 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 3 longer poems.
Literary Terms and Devices
Definitions and examples for every literary term and device you need to know.
Plus a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 terms in one place.
Plus a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 terms in one place.
Try a free sample literary term PDF.
Advanced Search
Refine any search. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more.
Related Themes
Comparing and contrasting texts? Find where any theme occurs across all of LitCharts in seconds.
Poetry Guides
Line-by-line explanations and analysis of figurative language and poetic devices.
For every lyric poem we cover.
For every lyric poem we cover.
