Irony, by its definition, is a rhetorical device or literary technique that conveys a subsurface meaning which is exactly opposite from the literal meaning of its evident words. Writers tend to employ such a technique to evoke readers’ reconsiderations about the issue that stated by the writer. Jonathan Swift in his A Modest Proposal throws out what he called a “modest proposal”, which is utterly horrific and inhuman, to address the poverty problem. Mark Twin, too, expresses his enthusiastic and patriotic emotion towards the war in his The War Prayer. However, neither of these on-the-surface statements by Swift and Twin is their real intentions, which are undercover by the evident words and implied by writers.
In Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, the persona – a character assumed by an author in a written work – is different from Swift (author) himself. The persona in Swift’s pamphlet is used to present the atrocious idea of the “modest proposal” – eat babies – to make readers feel like “What a horrible idea? Are you serious about that?” and then, lead readers to rethink about what the unmentioned real intention is. For instance, the persona says, “I rather recommend buying the children alive, and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs” (860) and “the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with little paper or salt will be very good” (860). In these cruel and inhuman words, he describes the “Papist” babies like commodities rather than mankind. He reckons the economic profit that the babies could make without any compassion or mercy. Actually, these extremely brutal and antihuman statements made by persona are, indeed, Swift (the author)’s sarcastic revolt and scorn towards the unfair r...
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...m who is the source of love, and who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek his aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”
Even tough both Swift and Twin employ irony in their works, the ways they use irony are unlike. The Swift’s A Modest Proposal is more like a sarcastic irony and more explicit. …… the fine gentleman would not mind to pay more pennies for the gloves. However, the Mark Twin’s irony in A War Prayer is way explicit than Swift’s in A Modest Proposal. Someone who does not really know much about the historical background of the war may deem that the chauvinistic view of the narrator equals to the value of Twin towards the war. In addition, another difference of the irony use between Swift and Twin is that Swift does not mention his real intention, whereas Twin somehow expresses his view on war by the old stranger.
Baker, Joseph E. “Irony in Fiction: ‘All the King’s Men.’” College English. Vol. 9. JSTOR.
1. 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 very effectively in her story. Situational irony is used to show the reader what is assumed to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to hint to the reader something is happening to the characters in the story that they 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.
Irony is a beautiful technique exercised to convey a message or call a certain group of people to action. This rhetorical skill is artfully used by Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet “A Modest Proposal.” The main argument for this mordantly ironic essay is to capture the attention of a disconnected and indifferent audience. Swift makes his point by stringing together a dreadfully twisted set of morally untenable positions in order to cast blame and aspersions on his intended audience. Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” employs despicably vivid satire to call for change in a world of abuse and misfortune.
Primarily used in satire is the literary device, irony, which is often displayed in both Swift’s essay and Voltaire’s novella; it is used to convey the duplicity of certain ...
Irony make things appear to be what it is not. Flannery O’Connor and Zora Neale Hurston are two ironic authors in literature. O’Connor was a devout Roman Catholic, with a southern upbringing (Whitt); whereas “Hurston is a disciple of the greatest dead white European male, authors, a connoisseur of macho braggadocio, and a shamelessly conservative Republican who scorned victimism and leftist conformism (Sailer). Both O’Connor and Hurston use irony in their short stories; however, they use it in significantly similar ways.
Wilson, Deirdre and Sperber, Dan. "On Verbal Irony." The Stylistics Reader. From Roman Jakobson to the present. Ed. Jean Jacques Weber. London: Arnold, 1996. 260-279.
This essay will have no value unless the reader understands that Swift has written this essay as a satire, humor that shows the weakness or bad qualities of a person, government, or society (Satire). Even the title A Modest Proposal is satirical. Swift proposes using children simply as a source of meat, and outrageous thought, but calls his propo...
In the short story, "Guests of the Nation," Frank O'Connor uses irony to illustrate the conflict which men face when their roles as combatants force them to disregard the humanity of their enemies. In both life and literature, irony exists when there is a contrast between expectation and reality. Verbal irony is defined as "a figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words which carry the opposite meaning" (Thrall 248). In dramatic irony there is a contrast between a character's perception of a situation and the actual facts. Often "some of the actors on the stage or some of the characters in a story are 'blind' to facts known to the spectator or reader" (155) . The short story "Guests of the Nation" by Frank O'Connor illustrates both types of irony.
The irony is also an example of showing character appeal. He is showing his attitude toward the society. As the reader reads his humorous and satirical essay, the reader would notice that there is irony everywhere. One example is when the Mark Twain discussed on page 7 paragraph 3 “Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers and sometimes to others.” (7). Even though he is telling the youth to respect your superiors. He also tells the youth that if they are ever offended or think you were offended, hit them with a brick. With that said how is the youth supposed to respect their superiors? Also, he mentions that in paragraph 3 “yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the times has gone by for such things,” (7) but he says hit people with bricks. Another example of irony is on page 7 paragraph 5 “you want to be very careful about lying,” (7) but he doesn’t tell the youth not to lie at all. Unlike most elderly people if they were giving advice. Which is very ironic how he is trying to let the youth know that it is appropriate to lie, but don’t get caught. Also, this is what brings me back to the quote “truth is mighty and will prevail.” If the youth are good liars, would this quote be truth? Can the truth over power a lie? That is what Mark Twain is trying to say, with good practice how would you ever get caught? He also refers to the lying
necessary part of his personality. The irony is chiefly exhibited in two ways: a general ambience
In general, the discrepancy between appearances and reality is ironic. Irony is encountered throughout our daily activities and comes in many forms; verbal, situational. and the cosmic. Verbal irony is the most familiar kind, this occurs when we understand that.
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.
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own” (Swift). Such beholders, as Jonathan Swift astutely emphasizes, are intended, through guidance of satiric narrative, to recognize social or political plights. In some satires, as in Swift’s own A Modest Proposal, the use of absurd, blatant exaggeration is intended to capture an indolent audience’s attention regarding the social state of the poor. Yet even in such a direct satire, there exists another layer of meaning. In regards to A Modest Proposal, the interchange between the voice of the proposer and Swift’s voice introduces another medium of criticism, as well as the opportunity for readers to reflect on how well they may fit the proposer’s persona. In such as case, the satire exists on multiple levels of meaning—not only offering conclusions about moral problems, but also allowing the audience to an interpretation of their place among the criticism.
Stating direct facts isn’t always the best way for an author to call attention to certain realities of society. Through the use of satire and irony, a writer can convey meaning to his readers that would not otherwise be conveyed. One such author who expertly knew how to use satire and irony in his writing was Jonathan Swift. In his book Gulliver’s Travels, especially in the section “A Voyage to Lilliput,” and his essay “A Modest Proposal,” Swift is able to use the aforementioned literary techniques to prove how the governments of two different nations are flawed.