Friday, July 9, 2010

Irony

What struck me most about this chapter was not the use of irony, but rather the lack of using irony when it was continually mentioned. Bill kept trying to question Jake about irony and pity even when it became clear that he didn't know what he was talking about.
"Aren't you giong to show a little irony and pity?"
I thumbed my nose.
"That's not irony."
As I went down-stairs I heard Bill singing, "Irony and Pity. When you're feeling. . . Oh, Give them Irony and Give them Pity. Oh, give them Irony. When they're feeling. . . Just a little irony. Just a little pity. . ." He kept on singing until he came down-stairs. (page 118)
Irony is defined as a discrepancy between appearances and reality. Therefore, I fail to understand what Bill was getting at, and if I were Jake I would have been confused too. What was so ironic about trying to wake Bill up in the morning? I do not feel as though the author was effective in his use of irony in this instance. Nowhere do I see a difference between a literal and implied meaning, or what is expected to happen and what actually does happen. Maybe this was a popular phrase at the time the book took place. Either way, I still do not understand what was so critical about irony and pity to Bill Gorton.

1 comment:

  1. is this really an example of the author using irony, or just the characters discussing it?

    ReplyDelete