'A Mother's Irony In Everyday Use'

Yusef Komunyakaa and Eavan Boland illustrate their personal experiences in order to emphasize how mistakes or tragic events will follow you for the rest of your life. The events that occur personally will haunt you every second of your life until you come to terms with them. The poems “Facing It” and “The Necessity of Irony” both reflect on past memories by using similar language and tone in order to realize what is truly important in life for a better future.

“The Eye of the Beholder” uses situational irony and the ending was opposite of what you expected. It builds up until her face bandage is taken off in the end and she has what we would describe as “a normal” face. Throughout the video, you hear how her face has always been different and how she has gone through many treatments to get her face somewhat like other’s faces, but all failed and her face stayed the same, making you think that her face must be really awful. The tension builds even more when he says that this would be the last chance for her ugly face to be fixed and that if this failed she would have to live in a community with her “deformity”. Finally, in the end, when the doctors take off her bandages it shows that she had what

In Chapter Ten, the Director uses Bernard as an example of an individual who displayed unusual behavior. The director says to the crowd in the Bloomsbury Centre, “...this man who stands before before you here...has grossly betrayed the trust imposed in him. By his heretical views on sport and soma, by by the scandelous unorthodoxy of his sexlife...he has proved himself an enemy of Society, a subverter...of all Order and Stability” (Huxley, 149). The Director is saying that unorthodox behavior destroys society ironically, the director is the one who displays this behavior. Since Huxley uses dramatic irony, the Director does not know that Linda and John would appear and reveal what Bernard would be punished for. When Linda and John come through the door, it reveals the Director's previous monogamous relationship and that he is a father and Linda a mother. The words mother, father, and son bring shame and embarrassment to the director, because everyone laughs hysterically. Another form of irony is that the words mother and father are considered indecent and pornographic in this society, they are taken as a delight in modern society.

Judith Guest once said, “. . . [people live in a] crazy world or maybe it's just the view we have of it, looking through a crack in the door, never being able to see the whole room, the whole picture.” Guest means that a lot of people see only one perspective and never fully see all sides to a situation when she uses the metaphor of a crack in a door in comparison to a whole room of outlook. In Roald Dahl’s short stories, “The Landlady” and “The Hitchhiker,” the limited perspective makes the actions of his characters shocking. In “The Landlady,” a young businessman traveling to Bath is trying to find a place to stay when he encounters a queer bed and breakfast with an eccentric landlady whom has had suspicious former guests—and has so much more to her than what first meets the eye.

Situational irony creates emotions and different feeling from the readers. The authors O. Henry and Guy de Maupassant both use situational irony to make their short stories more interesting. For example, in the story “The Ransom of Redchief” O. Henry uses situational irony to add humor and excitement to his story. He also uses irony to surprise readers and catch them off guard. Guy de Maupassant used irony to make readers feel sympathetic for the main character Mathilde in “The Necklace”. Many authors such as these two use situational irony to affect readers emotions and surprise them.

Mothers around the world have a lot of work on their hands; the task of raising a child is never easy and requires plenty of hardwork as their child is growing up. Authors often describe mothers as a devoted parent and someone who would sacrifice anything for their child, because it’s a stereotype that applies to real life. Readers can relate to the text and understand it, making them want to enjoy the author’s book more. In “Lucinda Matlock” , a poem, and “Everyday Use”, a short story, authors Edgar Lee Masters and Alice Walker create two characters named Lucinda Matlock and Mama. Lucinda Matlock and Mama are two characters from different stories that have similar traits, in that they are dedicated and accepting women. Mama and Lucinda work hard in their lifetimes to provide for themselves in their children, and are dedicated to doing that, and they both accept the way life works and the unfairness that it might throw at a person.

In the story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker deals with a young woman who is trying to find her place in her own heritage. “Everyday Use,” is narrated by the mother or Mama, an African-American woman living in the deep South of Rural Georgia with one of her two daughters. The family is living in very poor conditions, they do not have fancy things, and the mother does all the work herself. The story begins with Mama and Maggie awaiting on Dee, a college student, to arrive at home from college. When Dee went off to college she thought that her heritage was old and out of style, but when she came back home for a visit she insists on taking many things from home. Dee also changed her name to Wangero, so she would not have the same name as someone else in her family. She wants these different artifacts of her heritage because she wants to show them off for fashion and use them for decorations. Dee points out the things that she thinks will stand out the most, such as the quilt, dashers, and the benches. Mama or Mrs. Johnson, does not allow Dee to take anything but the dashers. She knows that Dee will not respect the things that their ancestors made. Mama and Maggie respect their heritage very much and does not want anyone to use the artifacts in the wrong way. In the short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker applies the literary technique of irony to emphasize heritage as part of one daily life.

Write a short story that includes an ironic twist of events (situational irony). To spark your thinking, think of a time what you experienced something that turned out very differently from the expected outcome.

Once Upon a Social Issue Fairy tales have always been told to us as children; whether to comfort or entertain us, they always seem to be a part of everyone’s childhood. “Once Upon A Time”, the title is a characteristic of a fairy tale, but she leads the story to an ending that is anything other than “happily ever after” (Gordimer 12). Although Nadine Gordimer’s title is typical in a fairy tale in the story “One upon a time”, the story she writes is anything but typical. Instead of dealing with characteristics and synonymous with fairy tales, the author uses irony to reflect the idea of humans

A strongminded man who has everything going for him, nice job nice car, great friends, etc. comes home every night to a sick mother whom he takes care of after a long day of living a lavish life. His one weakness is his sick mother because she taught him everything. No one, not even his best friend knows about his other life and so that 's how he keeps it. Oh the irony right? Big strong man afraid to live his truth in fear of change and facing his reality. In The Metamorphosis, author Franz Kafka speaks on a character name Gregor, who somehow manages to transform into a hideous insect, and the ironic life he lives. During the story Gregor has a family whom he cares for, a job as a salesman, and a lack in

Maya Angelou, creator of such poems as Still I Rise and Phenomenal Woman, stated that the Martin Luther King Jr’s works gave her the inspiration and instruction she needed to become the writer that she is. Shane Koyczan, as does Maya Angelou, fills the reader's mind with real life stories of those who have fell into the hands of bullying, 3 His use of vivid, real life examples of people, who he was personally known, gives his audience, those who have personally dealt with bullying and feel as if they are alone, a sense of reassurance. Koyczan’s poem "To This Day" is a story about three people, one being the author himself, another being a girl that he went to school with, and the last being a boy that Koyczan witnessed being bullied, who have

Throughout the story, “The Open Window”, there are many examples of irony. Irony can be funny, serious, or even scary. There are three types of irony; which are; situational, dramatic, and verbal. Situational is what is expected to happen and what actually happens. Dramatic is when the audience know more about something that is happening than the character does. Finally, verbal is the use of words meaning something different than what they actually mean.

Generally, irony is placed in stories to get the readers to think and emphasize what had just been said or done. In the short story, “Paper,” by Catherine Lim, irony is explored verbally, situationally, and dramatically. Verbal irony is shown through Tay Soon’s mother while she scolds her son saying; “You’re a show-off... Why don’t you put your money into better use?” Prior to this quote, she often expresses her dislike of obsession over a dream house. The verbal irony is found in that quote because she’s bluntly advising the couple to make smarter choices. An example of situational irony is when Tay Soon firmly states: “I’ll hold on... I won’t be so foolish.” This statement turns against him as he gets a slap on the face when

Its 7:09 am and Olivia is woken up by a wetness between her legs. She looks down and finds that the wetness is actually her water that broke. She anxiously wakes up her husband John, and the two of them quickly gather their things. After nine long months of waiting, John and Olivia are finally on their way to the hospital to welcome their first child into the world. The two have already chosen Jacob Alexander as the baby's name and have the nursery ready for him at home. Once at the hospital, Olivia and John meet with their doctor, Dr. Rodriguez, who assures the anxious couple that everything will be fine and their new son will be in their arms in just a matter of hours. It is now 8:22 am and the pain from

that belittled the potential and hard work that the young women in my high school did and still