Stown : The Contemporary Piece Of Irony In Southern Gothic Literature

The way that situational irony appears in the story is with John and his relationship with Abigail. Situational irony is irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, that the outcome is contrary to what was expected. The irony materializes when Reverend Hale asks John to recite the ten commandments and he is unable to remember the commandment that he has broken; John attempting to reel off the ten commandments "...Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,” Hale: "You have said that twice, sir" (Act II). John forgets the commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery, and his affair with Abigail is a prime example of him committing adultery.

Through her essay, “Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction”, she defends the individuality and moral value of Southern fiction. She makes a clear distinction between the correct and incorrect usages of the “grotesque”. Many fiction authors, particularly those from the North, write stories that deal with social and economic issues. O’Connor disagrees with this tradition. Fiction, she argues, should not reflect the concerns of the public but rather the perspective of the author. It should “distort” the reader in a way that does not “destroy… [but] reveals” and that requires a lot of self-reflection on the author’s part who must then transmit that vision to his or her readers no matter how skeptical they may be (“Novelist and Believer”). And the reader must approach the story from an open-minded position. They should not expect the story to be uplifting or entirely pleasant. Only then would readers be able to understand that seemingly “grotesque” characters hold much more moral value than at

"Irony is a device that protects him (the artist) from the pain of his experience so that he may use it objectively in his art(Susquehanna. "New Critical")." In The Glass Menagerie, it is ironic how Tom speaks badly of his father and his leaving home but in the end he leaves home just like his father, the man "in love with long distances (Williams 30)''. The fact that Amanda wants what is best for her children is ironic because she worries so much over it that she doesn't realize what is best for them.

Have you ever read a book with so much irony that it knocks your socks off? Irony takes place in all these stories we are talking about. The Merriam-Webster definition of irony is “the use of words to express something other than, and especially the opposite, of the literal meaning.” These stories will keep you wondering what’s going to happen and when you least expect it, irony will come out of no where and surprise the reader. In the short stories, “The Veldt,” “Just Lather, That’s All,” and “The Ransom of Red Chief,” Irony is active throughout the whole story.

Irony is one of the most powerful elements of figurative language. It creates a feeling of foreshadowing and sometimes humor in a rather unique way. Irony is a way of telling a story in that something happens that seems the opposite of what one would think. There are plenty of examples of the three types of irony in Night by Elie Wiesel. This essay will discuss the times verbal, situational, and dramatic irony were used in Night.

The definition of irony is a contrast between two things. One example is verbal irony. It is a contrast between what someone says and what one means, while dramatic irony is a contrast between what the characters know to be true and what the readers know to be true. Many writers use irony in their short stories to prove a dramatic point, or just to develop a story for upcoming use. These short stories by Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (140), Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” (183), and Stephen Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” (229), spin a tale of symbolic irony. Each tell a tale paradoxical twists with sublime contradiction where one is led to believe one side of an event, yet it is dragged down a twisted trail of mental sarcasms coupled with death. It is a known fact that many tales of irony require many major events to twist the order they are written in to create a viewpoint that stride away from the main topic or where the author wants the reader to end up.

Irwin’s character is portrayed as an embodiment of “the basic feature of every irony,” as there

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.

Ray Bradbury creates irony in order to warn the reader of a depressed drug ridden society filled with the unknown. This is shown with Montag, being a firefighter, his job is to start fires instead of putting them out, except they're burning books. In the beginning of the novel, "...Guy Montag joyously goes about his job... and Bradbury describes Montag's hands with ironic majesty," to show that his mind has been brainwashed to believe that he is happy. (McGiveron 1). Except, he is depressed about everything he has missed out on in life. Secondly, it is demonstrated through Montag believing he is happy, that is until he meets Clarisse. When Clarisse asks Montag a plethora of questions about how Montag decided to be a firefighter, "He felt his body divide itself... the two halves grinding upon one another," (Bradbury 21). He feels something he's never felt before, curiosity, he thought he was happy with his everyday life, but after meeting Clarisse, he realizes that he is missing out on a lot of things. Lastly, it is presented through Mildred always seeming happy. As Mildred constantly seems happy that she is married to Montag, she is secretly trying to kill herself, with a "...small crystal bottle of sleeping tablets... lay uncapped and empty," (Bradbury 11). While everyone in the society seems depressed, there is also an underlying event taking place in the background of the novel.

Gothic literature contains many thematic elements such as horror, death, and even at times romanticism. This type of literature incorporates various different elements, in order to evoke the emotions of terror. There are many authors who are extremely talented and are still remembered and read in classrooms today. These are authors like Edgar Allan Poe, best known for his mysterious poems and short stories, Richard Matheson and Horacio Quiroga, who have all incorporated psychological problems and violence themes in their short stories in order to fascinate the readers and add suspense to the story. These three gothic authors correlate the themes of violence and the psychological/ mental issues in order to depict anticipation and terror

Southern gothic is a type of literature that focuses on the harsh conflicts of violence and racism, which is observed in the perspective of black and white individuals. Some of the most familiar southern authors are William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. One author in particular, Flannery O’Connor, is a remarkable author, who directly reflects upon southern grotesque within her two short stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Revelation.” These two short stories are very similar to each other, which is why I believe that O’Connor often writes with violent characters to expose real violence in the world while tying them in with a particular spiritual insight.

Irony is the expression of one’s meaning by using language that usually means the opposite. Typically in literature, irony is used in emphatic sense. There is a multitude of irony in “Good Country People.” The character’s names of this story are incredibly ironic. Joy-Hulga is ironic because she is the furthest from being joyful. Another example is, Mrs. Freeman. She is not free because she has been hired and enslaved by Mrs. Hopewell. Another type of irony in “Good Country People” is how Joy-Hulga’s intelligence causes

William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, used irony to tell his story of a group of young British boys stranded on a deserted island. The readers can clearly spot the irony in the dialogue and Ralph, one of the main character, is also aware of the irony in his situation. The irony in the novel forces the readers to step aside and think about the hidden meanings the author is trying to express.

Irony is portrayed by Richard Connell in many ways.To begin, when Mr.Rainsford exclaimed that he did not not care about the animal’s feelings in the beginning of the story, but in the end he felt bad and understood what an animal being hunted felt. Mr.Rainsford did not like to be hunted, but didn’t care what the animal felt until he became the animal and therefore this shows irony. “"For the hunter," amended Whitney. "Not for the jaguar.""Don't talk rot, Whitney," said Rainsford. "You're a big-game hunter, not a philosopher.

As Brian and John B. Mclemore walk through the maze John had built himself, John exclaims “It’s kind of funny being lost in something you designed yourself.” This ironic statement perfectly describes the life of John in this piece of southern gothic literature. The story of John’s eccentric life is told spectacularly told by Brian Reed in Stown. Stown’s southern setting and values makes it a piece of southern gothic literature, but Stown goes further and relates to today making it more contemporary. S-town is a contemporary piece of southern gothic literature because of the social issues, decay, and irony it presents throughout.