How Does Merrill Markoe Use Situational Irony In A Conversation With My Dog

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Have you ever wondered what your pets are thinking? Personally, I wonder all the time. I purposely mess with my dog to see how he reacts. Well, now you can at least get an idea of what they are thinking. The humorous short story, ¨A Conversation With My Dogs,¨ by Merrill Markoe is about a dog owner who is having a conversation with her dogs Bob and Stan about how they follow her around everywhere. The author is attempting to portray the thoughts of dogs when communicating with them. In this instance, the owner is confused about why they want to follow her everywhere. This short story is a high comedy that uses witty humor and situational irony to make the audience laugh while giving the lesson. This short story uses a lot of witty humor. …show more content…

I think it conveys this because you can’t talk to your pets. You can not understand what they are trying to say. However, in this short story the dog owner and the dogs are having a very serious conversation, which you usually would not have with a dog. At the beginning of the story they start off with the owner calling the dogs into the office saying, “The reason I’ve summoned you here today is I really think we should talk about something.” The dog, Bob, replies with, “What’s that?” Usually you would not think your dogs would have a serious conversation with you. In reality, you would expect them to sit there with their mouth open staring at you with no response. The dogs also seem to have good grammar even though they do not have a brain like ours. That is where I think the situational irony comes in. How can a dog speak if they do not have a brain like ours?
In conclusion, Merrill Markoe portrayed high comedy using witty humor along with situational irony in the short story “A Conversation With My Dogs”. She does this while also reaching the moral of the story, which is that with some people or animals you have to be super specific or else they won’t understand what you are trying to say. I have experienced this with some people, including my mom who is often focused on her work. The combination of witty humor and situational irony makes the audience

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