Achebe and Devi both used irony to highlight an issue at the closing of their respective stories. In “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, the author used irony to show the disregard for the indigenous peoples and their customs by the District Commissioner and to emphasize the internal struggle of the main character, Okonkwo, as he tries to maintain his image of manliness with his actions. Mahasweti Devi closed the story “Breast-Giver” with ironic circumstances to explain the gratitude that should have been owed to Jashoda that she did not receive and the cause of her death by what had given so much to so many. The District Commissioner’s ironic disregard for the indigenous people and their customs can be seen on the last page of the story. The statement, “The resolute administrator in him gave way to the student of primitive customs,” (Achebe 1190) is an example of how little the British man thought about the customs of the Umuofians. He had not taken the time to learn the customs of the people he was in charge of colonizing before the incident occurred. The British were trying to colonize the country and the Commissioner thought that helping the natives, “would give the natives a poor opinion of him,” (Achebe 1190). He does not realize that most of the people in the tribe did not want to be colonized and their opinion of the District Commissioner was already poor. It is ironic that helping the tribesman take down Okonkwo’s body might have endeared him to the people and made colonizing them easier. Another example of irony used by Achebe is the suicide of Okonkwo. Throughout the entire story, Okonkwo is trying to display manly attributes. The story opens with his feelings about how his father was weak and he never wanted to be... ... middle of paper ... ...ray her in the end,” (Devi 1084). The breasts had provided for her family financially and raised her status as a woman in the society. In the end, the source of everything she had in life brought about her death. Irony was used by both authors in the two stories. Devi brought to light the lack of gratitude that should have been owed to her for all she did for others. It was also ironic that the breasts that gave her so much in life harbored the cause of her death. The irony used by Achebe was the weak end to a man who lived to be seen as strong and the lack of interaction between the colonizers and tribesmen that could have made the colonization easier. These e uses of irony brought both stories to an effective closing. Works Cited Simon, Peter, ed. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Shorter Second Edition, Volume 2. W.W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print
“Fear me,love me,do as I say,I’ll be your slave” says Jareth The Goblin King from the Labyrinth. By using irony, the author of a story can create a surprising events. Authors use multiple kinds of irony to make stories more surprising.
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.
By definition, irony is the expression of one’s meaning that typically signifies the opposite. Authors have scribed irony in their literature since before pen and paper existed because even ancient bards such as Homer discovered the power irony can bring to a good story. Khaled Hosseini, the author of the novel The Kite Runner, masterfully weaves intricate and delicate examples of irony to enrich the story. Irony plays a pivotal role in the novel to develop the plot, by creating suspense, the themes, by informing the reader, and the characters, by showing their personalities and unconscious motives.
...octor is an obstetrician but cannot save the life of the child. In the three central texts discussed heretofore it has become evident to the reader that irony is used to aid in the representation of an unfortunate event. The study of more short stories could come to show how irony can be used to demonstrate many events that end with different outcomes, whether they are positive or negative as in this case.
William Shakespeare, the author of Romeo and Juliet used irony very well. Juliet wants to be with her new secret husband, where as many have told her she has to marry. She does not want to do so, she and the Friar decide that she will fake her death and send a letter to her husband, Romeo, to tell him to get her away from Verona, Italy. Ironically, Romeo does not get this letter and thinks that she really is dead. He then kills himself to be with her. When Juliet awakes from the forged demise, she establishes that Romeo is dead and ironica...
In 'The Stone Boy';, the title of the story is a good example of irony.
Okonkwo’s desire for respect motivates his quest to preserve the practices of Ibo culture, while Obierika preserves the practices of the Ibo culture with a more humanistic perspective. Achebe uses the differing approaches of Okonkwo and Obierika in maintaining the cultural doctrines of the Ibo people to reveal his sympathy for Obierika over Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s motives for maintaining the customs of the Ibo originate with fear. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna while “dazed with fear,” drawing “his machete [to] cut him down” because, “he was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Though Okonkwo attempts to appear strong to the people of Umuofia, his fearful motivation speaks to a hidden internal weakness. Okonkwo’s focus on eradicating the taint of “his father’s weakness and failure” and his yearning for respect drive him to kill Ikemefuna instead of the more proper motive of simply effectuating what the Ibo conside...
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "dramatic irony (literature)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. .
Irony can often be found in many literary works. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is masterfully written full of irony. The characters of the short story, Mrs. Mallard, Josephine, Richards, Mr. Brently Mallard, and the doctors all find their way into Chopin’s ironic twists. Chopin embodies various ironies in “The Story of an Hour” through representations of verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony.
This discussion of the white man not understanding the customs and traditions, comes ever since the arrival of the colonialists, Obierika seems to voice Achebe's own thoughts on colonialism. Upset by the fact that the white men have come and completely disregarded the Igbo sense of justice, Obierika points out the impossibility of the colonialists understanding anything about the Umuofians without speaking their language. Then he points out the foolishness of belittling unfamiliar customs.
In the novel “Things Fall Apart” Achebe introduced two type of stories to his audience which one symbolizes women and the other men. The stories that has been told in the book about war, blood, violence, and killing refers to mankind stories while the
Overall, Okonkwo is a crucial part to the story Things Fall Apart, for he represents African culture, and helps demonstrate how colonization can change everything. Through this book we see how colonization changed history, and how it is important for groups, tribes, societies to stay together in times of invasion, in order to protect their own customs and traditions; and how crucial a sense of unity would've been for the Umuofian tribe. Okonkwo was the sense of unity of the tribe, doing everything he could could to protect it. His collection of honorable titles, his love for his tribes culture, his drive and passion, and even his booming pride all contribute to his district character, a true hero in my eyes.
The use of irony is integral to the plot of "The Story of and Hour" by Kate Chopin. Situational irony is used to surprise the reader and add an interesting twist to Mrs. Mallard's discovery of her husband's death. Dramatic irony is used to give the reader insight into Mrs. Mallard's situation. The use of irony serves to make the story more interesting and the ending becomes a complete surprise to the reader.
Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart to be an antithesis to much of European literature, and his characterization of Okonkwo as almost a tragic hero serves that purpose. Because Okonkwo has similarities to Oedipus and others, such as Thyestes or Hamlet, he shows Western readers that Africans and members of other marginalized cultures are not completely foreign. As a corollary, Okonkwo 's failures to meet some of the qualities of a tragic hero demonstrate the failure of the mainly Western archetype to represent universal standards, a main point for postcolonialist writers. However, just because Okonkwo is an inversion of the traditional tragic hero does not mean that the archetype cannot hold for cultures outside of Europe; instead, it merely means that archetypes can be modified to create more literary variety in the same way that novels written by Africans, Europeans, and other cultures introduce essential diversity into the literary
In the novel, Okonkwo was the epitome of manliness because of his athletic prowess and his position of power within the clan, emphasized on page 26 of Achebe’s work, “ “He was talking about Okonkwo, who had risen so suddenly from great poverty and misfortune to be one of the lords of