Irony: Notes

“Oh, sure, I just love to have four papers fall due on the same day.”


Irony in “To Build a Fire” when the man lights matches instead of fire.





Hemmingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” waiter and Heming way are same but at the end are ironically contrasted.


A woman sells her hair to buy a watch chain for her husband… her husband sells his watch to buy combs for his wife… both are unknowing.




I agree, ironies in stories are definitely memorable. Verbal Irony:
• the most familiar kind of irony
• we understand the speaker’s meaning to be far from the usual meaning of the words
• implies a contrast between what is said and what is meant



Sarcasm:
• when the irony is found in a somewhat sour statement tinged with mockery



Ironic Point of View:
• Whenever we sense a sharp distinction between the narrator of a story and the author, irony is likely to occur.



Ironic Twists of Fate:
• Developments that reveal a terrible distance between what people deserve and what they get, between what is and what ought to be.
• Also known as Irony of Fate or Cosmic Irony
• Suggests that some malicious fate or other spirit in the Universe is deliberately frustrating human efforts.



Effects of Irony
• move us to laughter
• make us feel wonder
• arouse our sympathy
• can render a story more likely to strike us, affect us and be remembered.

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