“Irony in Short Stories” The significance of a character's words or actions may stay a secret to others in the story, but to the reader, these quotes and doings have a unique purpose and meaning. The author of a plot uses various kinds of this narrative term called “irony.” The three different kinds of irony are verbal, situational, and dramatic. Verbal shows a play on words; situational shows when the expectation of an event does not end up as expected; dramatic shows when the reader has knowledge
and deep plots. They are able to share plots of murder and irony, or even love and romance. The stories The Gift of the Magi,by O.Henry, and Lamb to the Slaughter, by Roald Dahl, both have great plots, author's craft, and symbolism. One, about two lovers who cannot afford a Christmas gift, and will sacrifice it all for love, and another, about a murder, and its cover up. While both stories are compelling to readers, The Gift of the Magi is the better story when compared to each other because of its
Slaugher,” by O. Henry, expresses many literary elements such as imagery and dramatic irony. Gift of the Magi is also an amazing use with foreshadowing and diction. Lamb to the Slaughter uses the elements better than Gift of the Magi in many different ways, starting with it’s precise characters. Lamb to the slaughter expresses many literary elements, creating a story about Mary Maloney’s experience with her husband. Dramatic irony is a very critical part of the story, especially while evaluating the situation
writing through details to describe a scene in the author’s writing, or use language to elevate the story. “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, both use many literary elements to give their writing more depth. “The Gift of the Magi” uses irony throughout the story when Della and her husband, Jim, both do not have enough money to buy each other gifts for Christmas. “The Necklace” uses a lot of detail to show what Madame (Mme.) Loisel dreams of at the beginning
“Lamb to the Slaughter”, and “The gift of Magi”, are two very different short stories. “Lamb to the Slaughter”, is about heartbreak and revenge, and “The gift of Magi”, is about love and affection. Though both stories are interesting and both use great examples of imagery and irony, but “Lamb to the Slaughter” was better than “The Gift of Magi”. In “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Roald Dahl used symbolism to create humor as the story went on. In the beginning of the story the reader finds out that the
an author who has a type of twist ending in his books, and “The Gift of the Magi” is no different. His use of symbolism and Irony helped create this twist ending. This story contains two characters, Jim and Della, who sell their most valued possession to buy a gift to the other, this gift corresponds to their valued possession. The Dillingham are considered to be wiser than the Three Wise man because they used love to get their gifts, not money. A symbolism is defined the practice of representing
would have to be in the story “The Gift of the Magi.” Even with all of these twists and turns in his stories he does use two notable literary elements. This two points being symbolism and irony, he uses these elements to show various points in this short story. With both of this devices being used, symbolism was the one used more to show more thought and more emotion. The purpose of using symbolism is to show true emotion and how the character really feels. An example of symbolism in the story is here
shows how being hit with the lamb bone affected him. It shows that he gently swayed back and forth and did not fall to the ground right away. It shows the reader how the murder actually happened and how he died. Another thing Roald Dahl uses is dramatic irony. When Mary hit her husband, she left him there, put the lamb in the oven, then went to the store to get vegetables to cook with the meat. After she got home, she called the cops and the detectives came. Since Mary's husband was a detective, she
Similar to “The Cask of Amontillado,” O. Henry includes dramatic irony so the reader becomes emotionally connected to the story and pities its characters throughout “The Gift of the Magi”. It is known that both Jim and Della sold their most prized possessions in order to buy each other a Christmas present. The first instance of dramatic irony is when Della opened her present revealing an exceedingly thoughtful gift from her husband. “White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then
Lamb to the slaughter expresses many literary elements, creating a story about Mary Maloney’s experience with her husband. Dramatic irony is a very critical part of the story, especially while evaluating the situation. “Personally, I think it’s right here on the premises. Probably right under our very noses. What you think Jack? (Roald Dahl 9). She killed her husband with a frozen lamb leg after discussing troubling news that was never revealed. Mary called the police, who were also her husband’s