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Irony
Explanation and Analysis—A Fake Cowboy:
In Chapter 7, three men come to look at the Garden of Eden ranch, with the men reacting to Jim and the ranch by comparing it to the fake ranches they've seen in movies, leading to situational irony in their exchange:
In the middle of our tour, Gaiters stopped and looked at Jim as if seeing him for the first time. “So you’re the manager?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
"Funny, you don’t look like a cowboy.”
Jim was wearing what he always wore: a long-sleeve shirt, dirty jeans with the cuffs turned up, and round-toed work boots. He looked at me and shrugged.
Gaiters studied the weathered gray outbuildings with his hands on his hips. “And this doesn’t look like a ranch,” he said.
“Well, that’s what it is,” Jim said.
This passage is an example of situational irony because Gaiters is criticizing Jim for not looking like a movie cowboy and for his ranch not looking like a movie ranch. The reader knows that Jim is a genuine cowboy and rancher, but instead of accepting that, Gaiters, who is a fake rancher, is accusing a real cowboy of not being "authentic enough."
This exchange is a prime example of the difference between stereotypical ranch life, which is seen in movies, and the actual life that Lily, Jim, and their family lead. There is further irony in the fact that technological changes soon come to usurp Lily and Jim's lives as authentic ranchers. They are forced to change their lives for a society that increasingly promotes entertainment over necessity. Despite their best efforts, they cannot buy the ranch and are forced to move to Phoenix, so that the fake ranchers can take over the Garden of Eden.
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