Irony In Alice Munro's How I Met My Husband

Dennis used sarcasm to assure Connie that Aunt Dawn is alright. An example of situational irony is the plot of the story. Katie calls all these people to find who made the mysterious call but it was her all along. This is shown by the end of Act 1 when Katie says “I tell you it was someone in my family.”

Situational irony involves a discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. One of the best examples of situational irony is when Jareth said to Hoggle “don't lose your head” right before Sarah entered the forest with the fiery creatures, because the audience expects the fiery creatures to take off Hoggles head but they actually try to take Sarah’s head. In addition, another example of situational irony is when Jareth gives Sarah another chance to get her brother back. This is an example of situational irony because the audience expects Jareth to take the baby and be done but he allows Sarah a chance to reclaim her

For instance, when the readers think of a National Guard, one would imagine him or her as keeping the peace in a violent situation. However, in this case the National Guard ends up getting beat up by a civilian. This is portrayed when Alexie writes, “In his hands my father holds a rifle above his head, captured in that moment just before he proceeded to beat the shit out of the National Guard private lying prone on the ground” (Alexie 25). This displays situational irony because the reader expects the National Guard to protect everyone from violence, but he is the one who ends up getting hurt. Another instance where situational irony is displayed in this short story is when the mother and father are discussing heroes. One would expect a person’s hero to be intelligent, successful, and a person of many talents. Contrary to this belief, Victor’s hero is a rock star who had many personal problems and died a terrible death. This is shown when the story says, “’Only the good die young,’ my father

Irony in Tobias Wolff’s “Hunters in the Snow” and Alice Munro’s “How I Met My Husband”

In the short story Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl, a doting wife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb upon hearing of his intentions for divorce. She then avoids prosecution by feeding the lamb to the investigators, disposing of the weapon. In this story, the author’s use of situational irony and dramatic irony was crucial its enhancement. First, situational irony is shown when Mary Maloney, the loving wife, kills her husband Patrick Maloney without any hesitation. In the beginning, Mary “loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in a door, or moved slowly across the room with long strides.” However, when she was informed of their divorce, “Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause

The story titled “Invitation to Murder” written by Josh Pachter has a plot foundation based off of situational irony. Situational irony is additionally referred to as a plot twist. The plot is developed in this story when a plot twist, or situational irony, occurs. Plot twists in this story often lead up to important marks in the story; for example, a plot twist leads up to the introduction of the conflict and the resolution. There are numerous sightings of situational irony in the story. Mrs.Abbott invited twelve renowned men with occupations based on crime fighting, and she invited them to witness a crime in progress. Most of any audience would assume that she invited them to discuss and solve a crime, but that was not the case. When Mrs.Abbott

In the story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry, the author utilizes situational irony to not only surprise the reader but also inspire different emotions too. In “The Ransom of Red Chief” two men capture a young boy hoping to ransom him off for a good price, but a problem that both men never thought off was that the boy enjoys being kidnapped. This is the first example of situational irony, having the boy love being kidnapped and not wanting to go home. The narrator, Sam, says about the boy “Yes sir, that boy seemed to be having the time of his life. The fun of camping out in a cave had made him forget he was a captive himself,” (40). The boy thinks of his kidnapping as an adventure, and doesn’t mind being in the cave with the men, which

Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.

In the stories “Story of an Hour”, “Everyday Use”, “The Necklace”, and “The Lottery” it is evident that irony was quite a large part of the short story. There is situational irony, which is when the situation turns out differently than expected. Also, dramatic irony is present, which is when you as a reader knows more than the character. The authors seem to base their whole story around irony to surprise their readers.

The author of the story “Lamb to the Slaughter”, Roald Dahl, uses a significant amount of irony throughout the story. Dahl uses irony to make his story more appealing to the reader by keeping them engaged. An example of irony in the story is when Mary is six months pregnant and her husband expresses he is leaving her, so she murders him. The audience would have never seen this coming because the author expresses Mary’s feelings from the beginning of the story by saying, “She loved him for the way he sat loosely in a chair, for the way he came in the door or moved slowly across the room with long strides. She loved the intent, far look in his eyes when they rested on her, the funny shape of the mouth, and especially the way he remained silent about his tiredness, sitting still with himself until the whiskey had taken some of it away.” (Dahl 1-2). When Dahl shares Mary’s feelings, the reader concludes that Mary is an innocent, loving wife that truly loves her husband and would do absolutely anything for him. But when Mary murders him after he decides to leave, situational irony appears. This is an example of situational irony because the reader would never expect Mary to murder her husband, but the exact opposite occurs. Dahl also uses situational irony as an example of language. The language makes the story more intriguing and exciting. The situational irony is used in the story to shock the reader and to create the climax of the plot.

An example of this occurs when Biff fails math and goes to his father in Boston, finding Willy with another woman. Willy’s excuse is, “She’s nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terrible lonely” (Miller Act II). Willy has a family of loving members. His sons look up to him, his wife cares for him almost too much, but he doesn’t see the importance and value of that and seeks for ways to live the American Dream he thinks is important. The Woman is an example of that. However, through Willy’s affair with the Woman, he realizes that he is lonely. So it’s ironic because he understands what is of real importance, and he is mislead into devoting himself to the wrong ideals instead of turning to his family like he

What is irony? Does every ironic situation develop a conflict? Can irony really keep a reader at the edge of their seat? According to class discussion, irony is the opposite of what we expect to happen. Additionally, irony is helpful to authors as it gives opportunities for them to keep their stories more intriguing. To demonstrate the idea of irony are three short stories: Sherman Alexie’s “Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimmy Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ At Woodstock,” Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children.” Although the three stories are written by different authors, they all use situational irony to keep the reader intrigued.

In the short story “How I Met My Husband,” there are several literary devices used to portray different emotions and twists. There are four of them, however, that stand out a great deal: romance, diction, empathy, and irony. Romance, which is the theme of the whole story, is used to bring a feeling of excitement and is often times relatable to readers in some way. Diction is used to “spice things up” you could say, bringing great word choice into the reading. Empathy, although not used as much as romance or diction, is still vital in portraying emotion in this short story. Finally, the irony is what can bring you the twists, turns, and humor you see throughout the story.

Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.

The first example of situational irony would be Fortunato’s name, which means fortunate in Italian, an ironic name for someone who is about to be left in the catacombs to die. Another example of irony is when Montresor says, “It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (Poe, 3). Obviously this is dramatic irony as Fortunato has no idea that Montresor is smiling because he will kill him rather than actually being happy to meet him. Also verbal irony is present when Montresor says,