An Example Of Understatement : Totem Comprehension Questions

Discuss the irony of the following statement and the situation which it describes on pg. 153. “…there fooled what I later realized was a sickeningly comic aspect of an unfunny situation: the men talked in near-whispers.”

In “A Barred Owl,” Wilbur adopts a playful tone through rhyming: “We tell the wakened child that all she heard/ Was an odd question from a forest bird” (3, 4). The rhyme imitates the style of nursery rhymes, creating a joking tone. The playful tone avoids seriousness and weakens the horror of the owl, which contributes to the poem’s style like a nursery rhyme. Wilbur also euphemizes the owl to help create a nursery style. He does not represent the horrible creature of an owl as a carnivore with sharp claws that hunts during the night, but euphemizes it as a “forest bird” (Wilbur 4). The owl’s representation as a safe forest bird refers its figure to the enthusiastic birds with heavenly sounds in cartoons and story books, which often help the protagonist to overcome difficulties and dangers. Referring to nursery imageries of birds, the euphemism contributes to the poem’s style as a nursery rhyme. Creating a playful tone and a nursery style, Wilbur uses rhymes and euphemism to “domesticate fear” (Wilbur

As she describes the house, she remarks that “time here is measured by bells, as once in nunneries. As in a nunnery too, there are few mirrors.” (10) Offred lives similarly to a nun in the sense that she is restricted physically and mentally: there are few things that she is allowed to do, she is deprived of the most basic freedom. However, it is ironic that she should compare her setting to a nunnery because her job, namely to undergo the ceremony, would be regarded as a profanity and sacrilege. The narrator also notices that “there isn’t much music in [the] house” (74) Music is a form of expression; it is a means by which one can express their feelings and emotions. A lack of music is thus a lack of expression. The narrator emphasises this by using a short simple declarative sentence: “there isn’t much music in the house”. This plain sentence itself, as opposed to being elaborative, stresses the oppression resulting from the lack of freedom to communicate.

The short story “Little Things” by Raymond Carver deals with the humanity’s spiteful nature and its desire to flaunt what others can not have. On the surface, the story is about a man, a woman, and baby, none of which have a confirmed relation to each other, and a dispute over who should keep the baby after the man leaves. As the story reaches its end, there is no clear winner and the reader has a sense of unease based on the last line, “In this manner, the issue was decided” (Carver). Carver’s use of dialogue, allusion, and sight/sound imagery help build the darker mood for the story, and his use of those elements ultimately leads to one of Carver’s main messages. By utilizing the previously listed items, Carver highlights the idea that

Like when he is talking about how the workers only come in get coffee and talk and go home, he then adds in very sarcastically that their jobs have been outsourced to Asia. He is using mockery to say that they are out of a job their jobs are in Asia anyway so they have no point in coming in, and he is mocking the workers. He also is mocking the North Dakota people when he says that they sat their guesting each other, “in friendly Heartland fashion,” he is making fun of them and mocking them for being nice, kind people who put others before themselves. He is sarcastically saying that one of them should have gone and that they are both too nice so they sat their for hours, mocking their friendly nature. The author uses a sarcastic tone to mock the traffic problem and the people who caused it in his piece of

The lack of joy brought out a greater reaction much like the lack of food would bring on a bigger appetite. The author uses a simile and personification to describe this reaction as “a volcano of happiness erupting in me.” 4. Pi’s tone in this passage is very determined. He has a plan and he wants to execute it. The author conveys this by using clear, concise sentences. The reader is able to tell that it is vital for Pi’s survival that he trains Richard Parker because of phrases like “utterly forbidden” and “had to.” Through this passage I can tell that Pi has realized that he must do what is necessary to survive even if it means risking his life training a 450 pound Bengal tiger. The tarpaulin is a symbol in a way because it is what separates Pi from the tiger, and until he trains him it is what separates life from death. 5. This quote from Bill Joy revealed his amusement of the bug in the software at the university. It was a joke to him. It also revealed his great interest saying that you could sit there forever. Which he often did. The “bug in the software”, although a common phrase, is a metaphor meaning an error in the software. This “bug in the software” also acts as a symbol because there is also a bug in the system of selecting elite players in hockey and

      If it is ironic that the women find the clues, it is even more ironic that they find them in the mundane household items to which the men attribute so little significance. "Nothing here but kitchen things," the men mistakenly think (287). Because of their weak intuition, they do not see the household as indicative of John's and Minnie's characters. They do not see beyond the cheerless home to John Wright's grim nature, nor do the dilapidated furnishings provide

Twain often uses sarcasm and litotes when he uses phrases such as “enjoyed”, “one could have fancied”, and “ the wonders wrought by “the great earthquake”... ” to undermine the tragic effects of the earthquake and to purposely mock the elite’s unusual reaction to the earthquake. Sarcasm is the rhetorical device that is a non-literal comment that is meant to amuse or mock or hurt a piece of society. When Twain uses “enjoyed” to describe a tragic event, it is to mock the elite’s and influential religious group’s lack of concern and moral behavior during the earthquake. In doing so, the intended effect on Twain’s audience is to intrigue them, he does this by making his audience question as to why Twain refers to the disastrous earthquake in San Francisco as a joyful event. By recalling his experience in the San Francisco as something he “enjoyed”, Twain also uses the rhetorical device, litotes, to create a positive understatement to describe a negative. Additionally, Twain further mocks these influential groups by using phrases, such as “one could have fancied” and “ the wonders wrought by “the great earthquake”... ”, to underestimate the fears and terrors of the earthquake. But, most importantly, Twain utilizes this opportunity to expose the true reactions of the elite and other groups he despises like religious groups. By describing the immoral and selfish behavior of the groups he dislikes during the “great” earthquake, Twain shows his audience the facade of being morally superior and all-knowing the influential groups of religion and wealth have created. His intended effect of doing so, is to deter his audience from seeking guidance from these individuals and to stop his readers from aspiring to behave like

Without doubt, Edgar Allan Poe’s story is one of the author’s masterpiece. The story is an exhibit of artistic genius with various literary features well incorporated. Among them, irony, defined as, “A figure of speech which is a contradiction or incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs”, is the most evident. Allan Poe demonstrates the use of various types of irony throughout the play, which he uses to pass the intended message to the audience.

Walter had been sitting in back left corner of the Sun City Catholic Church for what felt like far too long. It was a glorious spring day outside, with temperatures peaking a comfortable twenty-two degrees celsius. Meanwhile, as Walter attempted to unstick his dress shirt from his perspiring back, he was convinced that the temperature inside the church was upwards of thirty degrees. Just as Walter was wondering whether he could get sunburnt from the light pouring in from the church's high, arched windows, the organ player began to play. There was a great chorus of rustling and sighs of relief as the entire church stood up and swiveled towards the door. After a moment, the door opened with a creak and a older man escorting a white circus tent

He walks away from the main house toward his own cottage since he could not concentrate on reading because of the noise --- " The parrot and the mocking bird --- had the privilege of --- [making] all the noise they wished" (516). The typical male attitude that women were entertaining to look at and possess, but were irritating creatures because they chattered incessantly. That Mr. Pontellier like most males --- "had the privilege of quitting their society when [birds or women] ceased to be entertaining" (516). Mr. Pontellier goes back to the same boring task --- "once more [applying] himself to the task of reading the newspaper" (516). That men were able to apply themselves to the same menial and meaningless task over and over. Men were self-absorbed, concerned only with work, and obtaining possession not maintaining relationships with their families.

Storytellers usually put comedy into their stories to keep their audience engaged, and to make the characters feel real and multi-dimensional to their audience. Diedrich Knickerbocker does this in “The Legend of Sleepy Hallow” by explaining Ichabod’s travel through the woods after hearing the legend of the headless horseman. Knickerbocker describes some noises that Ichabod hears when traveling in the forest that turn out to be just the wind or leaves. “As Ichabod approached this fearful tree, he began to whistle; he thought his whistle was answered: it was but a blast sweeping sharply through the dry branches. As he approached a little nearer, he thought he saw something white, hanging in the midst of the tree: he paused and ceased

  In the play, descriptive language teaches the audience more about the surroundings than what the characters are actually saying to one another.  "I've not been in this house--it's more than a year" (6), Mrs. Hale tells the county attorney.  It is a very run down house, and the audience discovers there are no signs of anyone really ever being happy.  The kitchen is dirty, and the women begin to feel uneasy about being in a house where there is nothing but darkness and coldness.  The darkness is to signify how alone and empty Mrs. Wright was feeling while living with her husband.  Mrs. Wright did not feel wanted, and she felt like all hope was lost which the audience recognizes with the help of Mrs. Hale's saying, "...he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters.  Just to pass the time of day with him.  Like a raw wind that gets to the bone" (11).  Mrs. Hale conveys these important details to Mrs. Peters, which proves that the environment in the Wright house was dark and dreary.  The audience can imagine living in house where there is nothing but solitude and misery.  The solemn atmosphere makes the readers start to understand how lonely and depressing living in the house actually was.

Humour and satire are two concepts that are both wide ranging and diverse, from dark, to light hearted, with each producing a different effect. Humour in the main, is something that is used to please the audience, its function is to invoke laughter amongst its audience. Satire is used to create a comical critical view of the subject at hand, this can range from a light hearted comical way, to a judgemental way, with each style giving the text a different meaning, however this does not mean that satire cannot be humorous, which can evident in the use of parody and irony within texts. Within literature both concepts play an important role to how the text is viewed, humour can include word play, grammatical jokes, to even inside jokes with the author and reader, and with satire, including that of irony and parody, with each style and type delivering humour in its own unique way. These differing styles of humour can be found in a variety of forms including Jasper Forde’s The Eyre Affair (2001), with its silly atmosphere, word play and grammar jokes, and the use of light hearted satire and parody to brighten up the text, and Julian Barnes A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (1989), where there is a more serious atmosphere, with a more critical, satirical eye on history and characters, as well as using irony to achieve its comical effect, and the position of the world. Each text is humorous and satirical in its own right, and with each author using different techniques to

Criticism may be intentional or unintentional, it may be delivered at unfavorable times, or it may even be taken the completely wrong way causing miscommunication and confusion. However, on the other hand, it can also be a very positive thing. Criticism’s merit depends on the way we perceive and interpret it (McKerrow, 2013). Merriam-Webster’s dictionary describes criticism as, “the act of expressing disapproval and of noting the problems or faults of a person or thing,” and also, “the act of criticizing someone or something” (Webster, 1993). From those definitions alone, it is easy to see how criticism can often be viewed as such a harsh and negative thing. It’s finding the balance between being offended and completely disregarding the criticism that we seek to achieve.