Use Of Situational Irony In Sherman Alexie's Short Stories

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According to Treasure-net’s ironic statistics page, 17 people die every year from choking on lifesavers candy. This is extremely ironic as a candy called a lifesaver is going to be expected to save lives, not end them. This swap of expectations is known as situational irony, and this “situational irony” is extremely common. The idea of Irony being common in everyday life is confirmed by three short stories: Sherman Alexie’s “Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ At Woodstock,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children,” and Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.” Although all three short stories contain different characters …show more content…

Sherman Alexie’s short story has several instances of situational irony which add interest to his story. To begin Alexie describes Victor’s father protesting a war with violence. When someone is protesting a war, it is expected that the person is going to be both peaceful and fully against violence. In Alexie’s short story, the father is the exact opposite, beating up a National Guard private, and being generally violent as a protest to war. “In his hands my father holds a rifle above his head, captured in that moment just before he proceeded to beat the shit out of a national guard private lying prone on the ground. A fellow demonstrator holds a sign that is just barely visible over my father’s left shoulder. It reads make love not war” (Alexie 25). This quote really shows off irony in Alexie’s writing as the situation is not expected in the least. …show more content…

In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, there are a handful of ironic situations which effectively add interest to his short story. The first instance is the arrival of the angel. Normally when an angel arrives it is believed that heavenly music, bright light, and generally heavenly things accompany it. Contrary to this, when the angel arrives in Marquez’s story it is accompanied by a stench of shellfish, and a stormy, gloomy day. “The light was so weak at noon it was hard for him to see what was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. He had to go very close to see it was an old man, a very old man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite of his efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his enormous wings” (Marquez 1). This text is a strong occurrence of irony, as the general expectation is thrown away, and the opposite is instituted. This angel’s arrival adds interest to the story as it gives background, and mood to the story. Another example of irony in Marquez’s story is the “wise” old woman. When an old woman is referred to as wise it is expected that she would be extremely intelligent, a smart thinker, and overall, wise. Oppositely the “wise” old woman is commonly proved wrong, comes up with bad ideas, and is overall not the smartest woman, contrary to what she is known for. “Against the judgment of the wise neighbor woman, for whom angels in those

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