Isn’t That Ironic “I’m Not the Indian you Had in Mind” uses many of the ironies described in “As Canadian as Possible under the Circumstances” to help make its point. Both texts either make reference to or use the duplicity of irony. “I’m Not the Indian you Had in Mind” uses the irony by making the reader visualize the common stereotypes of First Nations people before stating that the stereotypes are false and that First Nations people are just like everyone else. We see this in the quote “I’ve heard him, heard him roar/ the warrior wild in the video store/ the movies we all adore/ the cliches we can’t rewind/ but I’m not the Indian you had in mind.” (King lines 9-13) This shows the different perspectives in the poem. The perspective of racist stereotypes that date back to a …show more content…
less accepting time in history, and the perspective of reality were without context you wouldn't be able to tell who the author is talking about. The duplicity of the perspectives completely changing what someone means. As stated before “As Canadian as Possible Under the Circumstances” talks about this kind of Irony. It can be seen in the quote “Irony involves discrepancy, but not every discrepancy involves irony. The thing that makes the difference is perspective.” (Hutcheon page 3) The perspective is important to understand this form of irony. You need to be able to look at the different perspectives and see the multitude of different meaning something can have. In “I’m Not the Indian you Had in Mind” we see the multiple perspectives and learn that what you think does not always equate to what something actually is. “I’m Not the Indian you Had in Mind” uses deconstructive irony to prove another point.
The form of irony used in the poem allows the author to say more with less and still give a serious and hard hitting criticism of society. An example can be seen in the quote “Hell we didn’t make this mess/ it was given to us and when we’re gone,/ as our parents did, we’ll pass it on/ you see we’ve learned your lessons well.” (King lines 64-67)This section of the poem mocks and criticizes modern society and how we see things as someone else’s problem. Amongst the criticism is blame, to an oppressor that forced people to follow their ways. This Irony is called deconstructive irony. “As Canadian as Possible under the Circumstances” states that deconstructive irony is “A kind of critical ironic stance that works to distance, undermine, unmask, relativize, destabilize.” (Hutcheon page 9) Its uses in the poem are to get people to realize the issues in society and the kind of world we built. The poem is asking us to be better people, to leave the world better than when we found it. The way this irony is used helps reinforce the authors social commentary, and helps people see from the authors
perspective. Lastly the author uses irony to mock and criticize. The use is like a punch. It can be hard hitting making a final point. It is a way for the author to express their emotion while still proving a point. When the author states “Ask him to to help you save your world/ to save yourselves/ don’t look at me/ I’m not the Indian you had in mind.” (King lines 96-99) As a final remark to the audience, the author touches the stereotype of First Nations and how if history was different things could have been better. The author also stating that the problem cannot be fixed with his help. The damage has been done and no one can come and magically make it better. This kind of irony is called corrosive irony. The essay call this kind of irony “aggressive, cutting, cruel, derisive, disdainful.” (Hutcheon page 5) This fits right in with the poem as the irony used there was meant to voice displeasure in society and where it has ended up. It is a final jab to get the point across in a meaningful and intelligent way.
Thomas King uses an oral story-telling style of writing mingled with western narrative in his article “You’re Not the Indian I Had in Mind” to explain that Indians are not on the brink of extinction. Through this article in the Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada textbook, King also brings some focus to the topic of what it means to be “Indian” through the eyes of an actual Aboriginal versus how Aboriginals are viewed by other races of people. With his unique style of writing, King is able to bring the reader into the situations he describes because he writes about it like a story he is telling.
Someone might’ve had an intention to do nothing but good, and then ends up doing a terrible deed. Situational irony can completely shock and surprise the reader and their expectation of the story. This could be an easy and entertaining way for the author to show a character’s failure, or even a character’s unexpected success. The narrator had said,”I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us.” (pg.425) This quote helps to represent the stories theme because it talks all about irony and how things don’t end up as they are supposed to. It was obviously ironic when the Narrator caused the breakdown of Doodle while he was the one trying to build Doodle up the most. Or even how the Narrator thought he would be stuck with Doodle his whole life, and then he becomes the reason why Doodle is gone from his life permanently. The Narrator does something completely unexpected and leaves Doodle behind in the rain. Throughout the whole story we knew the Narrator didn’t really like Doodle in the beginning, but he still stuck with him. Now when the Narrator and Doodle are at their closest point yet, the Narrator decides to abandon him. It is ironic how if Doodle wasn’t pushed towards societal betterment, he would still be
In Drew Hayden Taylor’s essays, he creates and manipulates various tones that each appeal to a different reader, which allows for his writings to be accepted and related to by various people. Through his use of shifting tones in “What’s an Indian worth These Days” and “Why did the Indian Block the Road”, from humorous to informative to sarcasm, Drew Hayden Taylor challenges stereotypes about First Nations people.
Some people struggle with understanding who they are every day. They constantly look for ways to fit in. Curiosity can make him or her search for their place in society. In the narrative “You don’t look Indian” by Greg Sarris, we follow him in his journey to finding out his true identity.
In the poem the teacher points out mistakes such as the student’s thinking, his style of writing the paper and his grammar errors. The teacher said, “there are spots/where your thinking becomes, for me, / alarmingly opaque, and you syntax/seems to jump backwards through unnecessary hoops,” (6-9). This instance shows the error the teacher found in the paper about how the student’s thinking was not straight and would jump backwards and forward throughout the poem. Another error that the teacher finds is when the teacher tells the student that he should have wrote the paper differently or said something else. The teacher said, “I’d have said it differently, / or rather, said something else” (17-18). This instance shows that the teacher is not happy about the way the student has written he paper and tells him that he should have wrote it differently. Another instance where the teacher finds mistake in the paper is when the teacher fixes the students semicolons mistake in the paper. The teacher says, “Please notice how I’ve repaired your/ use of semicolons.”(28).This instance shows that the teacher found a mistake of semicolons, which the student did not use correctly in the paper. However, even after finding all these mistakes the teacher gives A- as an overall grade to the student. This is an example of an irony that shows that the teacher not only gave negative comments to the student, but after giving negative comments
Irony is simply stated as the difference between what we expect to happen and what actually
The purpose of this irony is to shock the reader, since ironic things are by definition unexpected, it works well as a twist in the story.
Dramatic irony is used through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s return. His death had brought her such great sorrow but upon his return she died. Her death then created sorrier bringing in the irony of the beginning of the story where it was said that Mrs. Mallard’s heart was bad and she was tried not to be stressed.
The speaker alone faces the impudence as she is the sole “Real Indian” standing there. The speaker never refers to a “we” or a collective that she is a part but only speaks to her own feelings, and while that is a strong message and feeling of how a true single person feels. The singularity reveals that she lacks a community that she is a part of and people around her who she knows feels the same way. There are “more fake Indians than real ones” in America (17). She is outnumbered by the cheap imitations that are violating and disregarding her culture.
Lastly, half of the poem, “I’m not the Indian you have in mind,” has a double meaning behind it. The first half of the poem is all about our perception of what we believe an Indian is. Linda Hutcheon talked about“Dual allegiances,” in her writing. These two authored works blend together in a sense because they both seem to follow the ideology of a double meaning hidden within Canadian beings; between having a set perception of something such as a stereotypical Indian to the irony of Canadian culture both are examples of double
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
“The fact that we were unconsciously part of a plan to weaken and cross out the Indianness in you, to pattern your land with our grain and beets and corn and alfalfa now clearly hits me. It is like a blow to the gut to learn that the years spent on the reservation, the times wading in the Wind River, were not the free years of childhood, but the manipulations of a power hungry to exonerate itself, to free itself, to purge the treaties of any real meaning or responsibility. They stole from me my innocence, leaving me a co-conspirator, an enemy to the children I grew with ton the prairie, drove us apart when we could have and should have forged an alliance for our own survival. The force of this unremitting design has killed many of my friends and acquaintances and left me forever with a feeling of unintentional complicity and sadness.” (Wind River, Wunder)
Many people do not realize that Indian people are around us everyday. They could be our neighbors, our bus driver, or anyone that we see on a daily bases. In Thomas King’s essay “You’re not the Indian I Had in Mind,” and his video “I’m not the Indian You Had in Mind,” he exemplifies the stereotype that many people make about Indians. King mentions in his essay that people always would say to him, “you’re not the Indian I had in mind,” because he did not look like the stereotypical Indian. Through King’s essay and video, I have been educated about this stereotype that I was unaware of. Since I now have an understanding of how unrealistic this stereotype is, I now can educate friends and family members on this issue.
The ironic use of rhyme and meter, or the lack thereof, is one of the devices Larkin uses to emphasize his need to break out of industrial society. The typical rhyme scheme is not followed, but instead an ironic rhyme scheme is used in the sonnet in the form of abab cdcd efg efg. Larkin writes this poem as a sonnet but at the same time diverges from what a typical sonnet is supposed to be. He is commenting on society’s inclination to form restrictions on those within it. By writing out of the accepted form of a sonnet, his writing becomes more natural because of a lack of constraints due to following certain rules and fitting a certain form. He breaks free and writes as he pleases and does not conform to society. Just as with the rhyme, ...
Over the years many different ways of analyzing poetry have been developed. One such approach is the “New Critical,” or the “Formalist,” which is based on the writings of Coleridge. The formalist approach is useful because it takes the poem’s form, which may be overlooked, and analyzes it to see what its effect is on the meaning of the poem. There are other aspects taken into consideration, like who the speaker is and how the author incorporates “ironic awareness” into the poem. Eavan Boland’s message in “The River” comes across best when looking at the poem with the formalist approach, taking into consideration the speaker and the speaker’s situation, the organic form, and the use of irony. Some aspects may have more importance than others, but all need to be looked at, beginning with the speaker.