Dramatic Irony - Novel Blog 6 (Slaughterhouse-Five)

"You needn't worry about bombs, by the way. Dresden is an open city. It is undefended, and contains no war industries or troop concentrations of any importance."

~ Slaughterhouse-Five, page 145

Ooohh.... this is awkward. We are dealing with some major dramatic irony in this situation here. Both the reader and Billy Pilgrim know that Dresden is bombed (that's where a lot of Billy's mental instability originates), but the other soldiers don't know. This creates suspense for the reader throughout the rest of the book, especially at the end when Dresden actually is bombed. Actually, I thought the bombing was somewhat anti-climactic, but that's besides the point. This scene kind of gives the reader a sense of how Billy feels throughout his life - he knows just about everything that's going to happen, and he just has to sit and listen to other people's  speculations and comments even if they are completely wrong. Like this one. So we get to empathize with Billy a bit more and understand his helpless condition - we sort of watch his life play out along with him.

Dramatic Irony - Novel Blog 8 (Frankenstein)

"I should regard the threatened fate as unavoidable. But death was no evil to me, if the loss of Elizabeth were balanced with it; and I therefore, with a contented and even cheerful countenance, agreed with my father, that if my cousin would consent, the ceremony should take place in ten days, and thus put, as I imagined, the seal to my fate."

~ Frankenstein, page 141

Oh Victor, you naive man. Talk about dramatic irony. When the creature repeatedly says "I shall be with you on your wedding night," and he has told you many times before that he's going after all your friends and relatives, wouldn't you assume that he is aiming for your wife? Yeah, killing Victor would suck because, well, he would be dead. But it's so much worse to watch all the people you love in your life die around you and know you can't do anything about it. I just don't know how Victor didn't catch this one. I think what makes it really bad is that on their wedding night, he tells her to go to bed and goes downstairs of all places. In that moment, I wanted to scream at him - it was probably the most suspenseful moment in the book, because everyone knew what was going to happen (well, except Victor). I feel horrible for Elizabeth too, because the whole time Victor is all moody and anxious, and a wedding is supposed to be really happy. She probably thinks he doesn't want to marry her or he would rather be with someone else, when in actuality, there's an eight-foot monster that may or may not pop in the window and kill them. And then she bites the dust. What a bitter end. I just think Victor should have been able to see it.

That's Awkward (Dramatic Irony) - Short Story Blog 2 (How I Met My Husband)

"He always tells the children the story of how I went after him by sitting by the mailbox every day, and naturally I laugh and let him, because I like for people to think what pleases them and makes them happy."

~ Alice Munro, How I Met My Husband


This last part of the story made me really uncomfortable - the dramatic irony was just too much! First of all, she writes this whole long story about how she obviously loves the pilot (and probably is still in love with him), even though they only had a brief fling. She talks about how she admired him and bonded with him, and then he just leaves her and never responds, so she settles for the mailman. Who, by the way, only has two paragraphs. Her husband only has two paragraphs, but her four-minute infatuation gets a freakin' novel. While we as readers know all of this, the mailman doesn't. When he thinks she is interested in him, we all know she's just waiting to be swooped up by a different man; this makes it SUPER awkward when he tells his children she couldn't stay away from him. Can you imagine her telling him the truth? "Umm, no honey, I was actually desperately in love with another man and still am..."

This kind of makes me think of women today. Women say they want a nice guy, but they always go for the bad boy when given the chance. The respectful guy just isn't that exciting, and especially for naive, sheltered girls (think about Roncalli girls. I fear for the female portion of our grade next year), someone who is a little more aggressive is a very intriguing and enticing idea. But, fear not, good guys, you all prevail in the end. A woman will always settle down with the nice man when she is ready to grow up and face reality. And that is exactly what Edie did.

Life Is Plastic, It's Fantastic! / Irony - Poetry Blog 2 (Barbie Doll)

First of all, hahahahahahahahahahahaaa -------->

Caesarean-section Barbie!


Next, I am a bit conflicted during this poem. I have moments when I think I know exactly what is happening, but then something comes up and I'm ridiculously confused. I get that it's about a girl who isn't perfect and who traditionally wouldn't be considered beautiful. The poem emphasizes the vanity of humanity (I'm sorry, I had to). The last stanza is confusing to me though. I'm not exactly sure what just happened - did she get plastic surgery, or is that metaphorical? Did the plastic surgery go awry and contribute to her death? Was she just made over by the mortician?

As I promised in the title, I will now talk about the irony. While I don't know all the details of her death, apparently, she is really attractive when she is dead. "Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said" contrasts to their opinions of her when she was alive and ugly. "Consummation at last" reveals the irony that she finally got the praise that she wanted, but she was dead when it came about. Also, "To every woman a happy ending" is dark irony because we don't associate death with a "happy ending."

Oh, the Dramatic Irony (Chapter 10/ Pages 146-152)

" 'The greater a man's talents, the greater his power to lead astray. It is better that one should suffer than that many should be corrupted. Consider the matter dispassionately, Mr. Foster, and you will see that no offence is so heinous as unorthodoxy of behaviour. Murder kills only the individual - and, after all, what is an individual?' "

Brave New World, page 148

The Director tells Henry Foster everything in the preceding quote when Bernard is a clear threat to the system and Society as a whole. The dramatic irony, in this situation, is "murder kills only the individual." This is when the readers say, "Wait! In this book, there is no such thing as an individual!" (which Henry Foster wouldn't be able to understand) And the following rhetorical question only reemphasizes this point. Which is quite funny, the purpose of the question was to aid his convictions of Bernard, but it actually makes the reader hate him and his life's work even more.The irony once again points out the flaws in this community. It reveals the horribly thought-out priorities of the government.