Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor relays countless idea on how to understand literary texts. In Chapter 26, titled “Is He Serious? And Other Ironies”, Foster bluntly tells the reader that “Irony Trumps Everything”. Irony disregards the reader’s expectations and reveals deeper meanings behind an action or event, reveals the true nature of a character in a novel, changes our view of the entire story completely, and even evokes emotional responses from a reader.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is full of various ironic events. For example, the main character, Amir, has always remembered his father lecturing him on never stealing. Baba, as Amir calls his father, states “When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right
…show more content…
to the truth.” (page 17). However, once Amir is a grown up, he learns that his father had an affair with of his servants. This shows that not only was Baba holding Amir up to standards that even Baba himself could not honor, but also that Baba must have hated himself quite a bit. The reader also realizes that the various kind acts done by Baba could have primarily been because he felt so much guilt over the years. Acts that the reader once overlooked as a result of Baba’s character trait has more importance. In addition, Amir’s half-brother, childhood best friend, and servant, Hassan, was born with a cleft lip and raped during his childhood by the antagonist, Assef. Amir carries this with him his whole life, because he did nothing to save Hassan and drove him away after that. Years later, Amir recues Hassan’s son from Assef and gets a lip scar as a result of the fight. The irony in this is that Hassan used to take care of Amir, but now it is Amir who is taking caEre of Hassan, by protecting his son, instead of letting Assef ruin him again. The lip scar Amir gets looks just like a cleft lip, showing the connection between Hassan and Amir as half-brothers. Even though Amir gets beaten physically, almost to the brink of death, he feels nothing but freedom after his fight with Assef. Relief pours into him, because he feels like he has finally gotten what he has deserved for betraying Hassan. Following that, the novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card does not have only small bits and pieces of irony, the entire theme of the book changed after the reader discovers that the main goal of the protagonist is compromised.
The hero of the story, Ender, climbs up the ranks heavily antagonized throughout the entire novel, children are taught from a young age how evil these creatures supposedly are and governments on Earth choose to send children to a specialized Battle School to defeat the Buggers. Ender eventually wipes out the Bugger race almost entirely, even though he assumed he was only in a stimulation. As soon as he learns this, he feels repulsed by himself. This was his goal and he achieved it, but the reader learns that the Buggers were not deadly aliens coming to destroy the human race. The Buggers only wanted peace, but humans assumed the worst, and revealed the ruthless side of humanity. Card’s use of this ironic twist guides the reader in thinking beyond just themes of Ender’s ruined childhood and innocence, and focus in on the bigger picture the novel conveys. When one thinks of the overall theme, use of propaganda and irony in Ender’s Game, it is easy to relate it to today’s world; for example, the buggers are representative of today’s immigrants- misjudged, bullied, and treated unfairly. Card made readers think about a complete set of characters in a way we would not have done earlier, just by using one instance of …show more content…
irony. Finally, utilizing irony can bring forth emotional responses in a reader.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the antagonists is Mayella Ewell, a low class white woman who wrongly accuses a black man named Tom Robinson for raping her, thus getting him killed. Mayella is a very static character, she longs to be respected, but her town does not believe she deserves it. Mayella does not change in the novel, but how readers perceive her might, once it is revealed that her father was the one who pushed her to ruin the Tom’s life. Not only that, but the reader learns that Mayella was physically and sexually abused by her father, Bob Ewell. Bob has a habit of hurting Mayella when he is drunk, as seen in two quotes during a testimony with Mayella saying that her father is "tollable, 'cept when--" (Page 183), inciting that her father causes her trouble when he is drunk and further in Tom recounts what Mayella told him, “She says she never kissed a grown man before an’ she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her papa do to her don’t count” (Page 194). If Mayella’s father is doing things like kissing her, there is no doubt he coulld possibly be doing worse things to her and this makes readers question their dislike for Mayella. On one hand, she is acting immorally, but the twist of faith is that she is also taken advantage of, and the reader cannot help but feel pity for
her.
In Orson Scott Card’s novel, Enders Game, at the age of six, Ender is chosen by Colonel Graff and the International Fleet to help save mankind from the buggers. However, through his journey, he experiences manipulation and deception from significant figures that surround his life. This deceit from Colonel Graff, Valentine, and Mazor Rackham is focused on defeating the buggers in the Third Invasion.
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.
Ender did not wish to annihilate bugger species, as he did not like murder in general. He believed killing the buggers were also a crime as to killing people. He believes that there were more to the buggers than what everyone perceived them to be. And since he nearly killed the entire species, he feels like it is his obligation to help find a new location for the buggers to repopulate. Ultimately, the novel is only a little over 300 pages and overall is an easy read. The only issue I had with the novel was the amount of side characters, making it difficult to remember who was who. Finally, I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys fiction novels that pertain to space and defending Earth from a foreign threat.
“Irony trumps everything”. Thomas C. Foster made this argument in “How to Read Literature like a Professor”, explaining that when an author uses irony in their literary work, standard conventions on interpreting themes are temporarily disregarded (Foster 252). This effect on the reader allows for a different interpretation of the text to occur because the novel's events are contradictory to what one expects. The proficient use of irony in the novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood to show the inner desires of Offred, Serena Joy, and the Commander.
Harper Lee, before the reader meets Mayella in person, uses her family and home environment to portray her as an impoverished but aspirational woman, revealing some of her more redeeming qualities before the trial has begun. She then goes on to demonstrate some of Mayella’s negative characteristics during the trial, when Lee portrays her as cowardly, emotionally unstable and racist at times. By the end of the trial, the reader is left to make their verdict on Mayella Ewell; should she be blamed for what she did or is she simply a victim of circumstance?
“... Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s garden’s. They don’t nest in the corncubs. They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (pg.103)Mayella is innocent because she grew up in an abusive household. The book gives hints that her father Bob Ewell sexually assaults her and leaves her to take care of her so called “brothers and sisters.” Mayella Ewell was put on stand and was made to lie to the judge and jury by her father, Bob Ewell, who beats her and abuses
During the trial for Tom Robinson, Atticus is questioning Tom on what Mayela had done while he was with her. Tom Robinson explained she was kissing him on the side of the face and was explaining how she had never kissed a grown man before. “......She says what her papa do to her don’t count….” (Lee, Chapter 19). Given this quote from the book, it is implying that Mayella’s father sexually assaults her because he is the “man of the house” which seeing that Mayella is female, it renders her powerless against Bob. Mayella’s gender takes away her power greatly. “...Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left….” (Lee, Chapter
Mayella Ewell is a woman in the 1930’s and yes, women back then were not treated as citizens. As Atticus is delivering his closing argument on how the person who beat Mayella with his left, Tom cannot use his left due to a job accident. By contrasting the difference in race and gender, in the 1930’s these were a big thing, To examine the results of race, gender are way different. Mayella may be white, but in her role as a female, it just goes downhill from that. Although it is different from Tom Robinson point of view. As Atticus is delivering his closing argument after proving that Bob Ewell is left-handed and Tom Robinson is not able to use his left hand. ‘“...What did her father do? We don’t know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left…’”. Tom Robinson is unable to use his left hand due to a job accident. Mayella took advantage of Tom, she knew he would help her because he is a nice man. Mayella was not taught respect while growing up, Tom on the other hand was amiable. Mayella is anxious of her father and what he does to her. Some readers might be anxious too, but might confess up to what their father is doing to them. Since she was not taught respect from her father, she would not know much about it. “Won’t answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin’ me,’Mayella said.
Mayella (white), goes to court against Tom Robinson (African American), where Mayella is accusing Tom Robinson of rape. When Atticus asks Mayella questions, Atticus mishears Mayella. An example of Mayella’s lack of power is when Atticus closes his argument by describing Mayella’s injuries during the court case. “Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with his left.”
“The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.” -Robert A. Heinlein. In the short story, “The Possibility of Evil”, the author Shirley Jackson uses irony to develop the traits of the protagonist, Miss Strangeworth, in her small hometown. Throughout the story, there are many examples of irony as Miss Strangeworth goes through her normal day. Irony is an engaging literary device used by authors to expose underlying intentions which become critical to the development of the plot.
With lots of children to take care of Mayella was only able to get two to three years of education and she had no friends. This is why when Atticus asks her about her friends she thinks he is making fun of her. After having to live a life like this we don?t know why Mayella would like to defend her hard-hearted father, but she probably did this because she was scared of what he would do to her if she told the truth. We feel sympathetic towards her at this point but there is still a sense of hatred towards her as she is letting an innocent person being jailed who actually helped her a lot when no one did.
After years of emotional and physical abuse inflicted by her father, Mayella was finally able to control one thing in her life. Having an affair with Tom Robinson, a black man, was an enticingly risky idea to Mayella; in the 1930’s, racism was still alive and especially prominent in the South, so the idea of a white woman being romantically involved with a black man was practically taboo. She was well-aware of the consequences that would come with that interaction when she forced him to kiss her, so when she was caught, she had to blame Tom in order to avoid the shameful truth caused by her years of loneliness and abuse. By the time Mayella reached the stand and swore upon the Bible in court, she had already decided that she had to lie about what had really
In the story “Ender's Game” many interesting actions and events happen. From wars to death, to games, that are not games anymore. This story is about a young boy that lives in a world that is constantly under attack from extraterrestrials called the Buggers. In the beginning, Ender is just a young boy constantly controlled and watched by the government (The IF). In the middle, he is taken to battle school and there the people realize that he is the best person for the job and will lead the human race to victory over the Buggers. Lastly, the IF puts Ender and his group together to beat the buggers in a final war. The book “Ender’s Game” written by Orson Scott Card is a fun and exciting science fiction book that leaves the reader at the edge of its seat. The symbolism and hidden messages in the book make the reader connect to the story. The title, the characters, and the setting all have something more to bring to the table and change
Irony causes an interesting effect towards the reader causing them to expect the unexpected while conveying entertaining content. Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is fully written with suspenseful and intriguing irony. The narrator could not have stated a better way to express his insanity than murdering the poor old man after self pro-claiming that he is sane. Edgar Allan Poe's technique to portray constant irony is substantially more effective than in any other short story because Poe created a “mad” man in Tell Tale Heart who considers himself “sane”, making the narrator himself ironic. Edgar Allan Poe presents verbal irony in an obvious way. During the story, the narrator attempts to prove to the readers that he is sane. Unfortunately,
Countless literary devices are used to make publishable literature. One most used devices is irony. Irony is defined as a situation or statement characterized by a significant difference between what is expected or what is understood and what actually happens or is meant. Two famous pieces of literature that use this device are The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams