Irony.

                 Irony is the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning. There are three different types of irony. Verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means something else. Dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know. Irony of situation is a discrepency between the expected result and actual results. We see irony of situation on the train all the time on ads showing people who get plastic surgery and end up with bad results. Irony of situation is something that has existed in my life. When I was younger I use to use the computer a lot for entertainment and later on I noticed that I can type with out looking at the keyboard. 


                  The poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson is an example of irony. In the first stanza it reads "he was a gentlemen from sole to crown, clean favored, and imperially slim." Richard Cory is a gentlemen who dresses nicely and is very serious but is nervous around people. In the second stanza it reads "In fine, we thought he was everything to make us wish we were in his place." The people from the town envied him because he was rich and they thought he had everything they wanted so they wish they were in his place. The tone of this poem starts with the author describing Richard Cory's ways and how much attention he got because people thought he was amazing and happy. But tone of the poem just switches instantly and catches us by surprise in the last line. As we read along we can't really tell that Richard Cory is going to end up killing himself. Irony of situations are created by the people looking at Richard Cory and believing what they thought he was but no one suspected he will kill himself.   

                   The short story "The Necklace" by GUY de MAUPASSANT is an example of irony. Irony is very important in this story because one event changed their lives forever. This story takes place in France around the 19th century. Madame Loisel was a very pretty woman who was poor but dreamed of the better life she thought she was born for. She was very sad always thinking of the better things and one day her husband came home with an invitation to a ball that was for a selected few. She didn't want to go because she felt she didn't have a dress that she can look stunning in and fit in with the other wealthy woman. She got her dress but then she didn't have jewels but she had a wealthy friend she borrowed a shiny diamond necklace from. She went to the ball and was extremely happy because she looked stunning, but by the time she got home she noticed that she had lost the necklace. They looked for it but couldn't find it, so they had to replace it. They worked extra hard for 10 years to replace the necklace she lost and when she told her friend how much misery they went through to replace that necklace to later find out that the necklace she borrowed was a replica and wasn't of real diamonds. In those 10 years Madame lost her beauty and started looking old. The irony of this story is how she wanted the life of the wealthy and lost herself in doing so. She thought that because her friend was wealthy her shiny necklace would be worth a lot of money, if she would've told her friend sooner what had happened she would've not had to work hard for those 10 years to replace the chain she thought was real. 

                The article "The House That Slaves Built" by Gardiner Harris is an example of irony. The main irony in the story is how 200 years ago blacks weren't let into the White House and now Barack Obama is the president who lives in the White House. In the 1960's a singer named Sara Vaughan noticed how as a race blacks went from tragedy to triumph. She was invited to sing at a state dinner and after she sang she disappeared to her dressing room and a man found her crying. She said "There's nothing wrong. This is the most wonderful day of my life. When I first came to Washington, I couldn't get a hotel room , and tonight, I danced with the president." This shows how racism and segregation changed over the years. Blacks weren't allowed in the white house back in the day and now we have a black president who lives in the white house with his family, this is the irony of the story.

                  Is it ironic that so many don't understand irony ? The answer is yes. Out of all people I would think that a writer would understand irony, but in this article the author talks about a discussion   she had with her friend, the writer. "Our employers were providing us with a Thanksgiving lunch the day after Thanksgiving, and she said, "It's So Ironic!"." The author points out that this isn't irony and that the writer, her friend doesn't know the meaning of irony. On "IsItIronic.com" I saw a few examples of situations that I had to vote whether it is irony or not. This is an example that I found to be ironic "if you have a phobia of longs words you have to tell people that you have hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia?." The irony in this situation is that a person who has a phobia of using long words has to use a long word to explain that they don't like using long words. The example of the kid wearing the breathalyzing unit costume for Halloween is ironic to me because he was dressed as it and later had to breath into one and got arrested for drunk driving. I voted 5/10 (Not Sure). The example of Tim Schrader being arrested for heroin smuggling and then being pardoned for getting HIV after sharing needles is not ironic to me. I voted 2/10. In the example "Is it ironic that there is a song about the phobia of making music" I found it to be ironic because a phobia is being scared of something and the person actually recorded the song. I voted 9/10.   

 

                  This cartoon is an example of irony. This cartoon shows carpenters building a building for a sunscreen company. The irony of the cartoon is that they are blocking the sun from a house that runs on solar energy.

                   In the lyrics of the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette there are examples of irony, I don't think the whole song is ironic but I believe that there are parts that are ironic. The third stanza is an example of irony. It is explaining that the guy is about to get on a plane for the first time because he's always been scared to fly. It reads "He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye he waited his whole damn life to take that flight and as the plane crashed he thought "Well isn't this nice......"" I thought that was ironic. The irony is that he was scared to fly his whole life and when he did fly what he was afraid of actually happened. In the sixth stanza in line 6 it reads "A no smoking sign on our cigarette break" that's also ironic. I think this is ironic because on your cigarette break there's a no smoking sign so it stops us from doing what we want.