Josh Pachter's An Invitation To A Murder

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“An Invitation to a Murder”
Josh Pachter based the foundation of the plot in his story, “An Invitation to a Murder”, on situational irony. Situational irony is the irony in which what the reader expects to happen does not happen. Josh Pachter brilliantly used situational irony to intrigue readers. The consistent plot twists in the story force readers to continue to read on, eager to figure out how the murder will unravel. Additionally, the conclusion of the story is a cliff hanger that leaves readers to interpret what will happen to the characters after the resolution. He included various examples of situational irony to evolve the plot of the mystery. The repetition of situational irony is the foundation for the plot of this short story. …show more content…

For example, even the title itself is an example of situational irony. In the story, Detective Branigan received an invitation to the murder of Gregory Abbott. This is ironic because in the end Gregory was indeed murdered, therefore, Branigan was invited to witness a murder. In this way, the title is quite literal as well as ironic. One would not expect for there to be an invitation to such an event. Another example of situational irony is that Eleanor Abbott invited twelve men who were vastly involved in the judicial system to witness this murder. This is ironic as there are precisely twelve people on a jury. The twelve men later acted as a jury in a courtroom. The reader would not expect for men who are known to be a part of the judicial system to take part in an illegal action. Additionally, in the center of the room there were multiple weapons of destruction, including; a kitchen knife, wire with a wooden handle, a length of pipe, a revolver, and an amber bottle that had the symbol for poison on it. All of these items could have been possible murder weapons used to kill Gregory. They all appeared to the reader to be quite dangerous. The amber bottle, however, was not perilous to Gregory as it was a needed medication for him to subsist. The twelve men were unaware of the fact that Gregory needed the medication to survive; they assumed that it was simply a way to kill him. The reader would not predict that the medicine bottle would not be poison, rather a vital ingredient in Gregory’s survival. An additional example of the situational irony Pachter included in the story would be that to any other robust person, the medication would be fatal. Alternatively, Gregory needed this medication to survive as he had a heart condition. This is ironic as for another human the use of the medicine could be fatal, nonetheless, the lack of the medication for

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