Throughout history, irony has been used in a multitude of ways. It is not just a way to inject humor into a story, but a way to slip a message in without saying it flat out. By doing that, it allows the reader to take in the information, and possibly come to the conclusion that the author wanted them to. This way, though, it does not seem like something forced upon them. Authors who used this tactic were Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. They wrote these novels during the reconstruction period about the pre civil war era, and used them to get their opinions on the time period across. While some may say that Twain and Douglass used irony for many purposes , they mainly used it to expose the downfalls of society by critiquing hypocrisy, conformity, and the cruelty of slavery. While some may say that Twain and Douglass used irony for a humoristic purpose, they actually did it to expose the downfalls of society because of how they critiqued hypocrisy. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck had his epiphany and decided that he did not want to be a part of the scheme and ruin three innocent lives, he went to the rooms of the King and the Duke. At some point, they walked in, and as he hid, Huck heard them say that “Mary Jane ‘ll be in mourning from this out; and first you know the nigger that does up the rooms will get an order to box these duds up and put ‘em away; and do you
Irony in Huck Finn Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain takes place in the mid 1830’s to the mid 1840’s when slavery was still prevalent in the south. Although the book was set in the 1830’s to the 1840’s, it was not published until 1884, after slavery had been abolished in 1865. Slavery is an important topic of the book to focus on because it shaped the way people thought. A way that Twain shows the truths of slavery in the book is through irony. A specific scene that he used irony in was when Huck was helping Jim escape from slavery, yet Huck judged Jim for wanting to free the rest of his family which is ironic.
Irony may appear in difference ways within literature. Irony changes our expectations of what might happen. It can create the unexpected twist at the end of a story or anecdote that gets people laughing or crying. Verbal irony is intended to be a humorous type of irony. Situational irony can be either funny or tragic.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an autobiography told through the eyes of Frederick Douglass himself. Douglass was born as a slave; he was an African-American abolitionist and orator. In the book, Douglass highlights numerous cases of irony associated with slaveholding. Throughout his narrative, Douglass examines the irony of religious slaveholders and one of his non-religious slaveholder. He also speaks of the irony in which slaves are treated below animals.
1. Irony as we talked about in class is considered to be intellectual or a sort of dry humor. It also has a double meaning, where you say one thing but the opposite meaning is implied. For example, in the reading “SantaLand Diaries” David and another elf realized that Santa is an anagram of Satan. So they would substitute the word for Santa by using Satan in front of customers.
Emotional Argumentation: The Rhetorical Genius of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass’ use of vivid imagery, metaphor, parallelism, and irony in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave was even more impressive and effective in his time than now. Graphic visual and sensory imagery grabbed polite society’s attention to demonstrate the violence against slaves. Metaphors countered racial bias by equating violence across races. Irony emphasized the reality of religious, political, and social hypocrisy against black people.
This demonstrates how Miss Watson is trying to stain religion on huck even though she does not fully understand it herself. Huck and Tom clearly demonstrate some of humanitys fault in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain uses diction, dialouge, and characterization to symbolize society through Tom and Huck in order to show the Hypocricy and Blind comformity in an everyday society.
For example, in chapter three,3 Douglass uses irony to describe the excessive attention his master, Colonel Lloyd, pays to his horses. Because they were his prized possession, Lloyd would beat the slaves in charge of taking care of them if the horses misbehaved in any manner. Obviously, it was not the slaves fault, but the horses. Douglass uses irony here to show that Lloyd treats his animals better than he treats the human slaves. What Lloyd did not realize was that slaves were not animals but men, with thoughts and emotions of their own.
Fredrick Douglass' Life Experiences Through Imagery And Irony One must struggle to find success when it is about Fredrick Douglass. Growing up, Douglass saw all the horrific acts that slaveholders did to their slaves, and now he can spread the word of what he saw and lived through. Throughout his works, the people can see all of the sufferings he and other slaves had to endure. Being a well-known activist in his period, many had to endure a lot. have heard the harsh realities that slaves were going through.
Mark Twain uses satire to portray different issues that were going on during the time period. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain uses Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to represent romanticism and realism. Doing so formed the characters into two drastically different persons. Mark Twain uses satirical elements to contrast the two main characters in their personalities and views. Tom Sawyer is a child who is blinded with fictional literature and the worlds view on slaves.
Expository Essay Irony can clearly be stated as the use of words that mean the opposite of what we think it means. An example of a story that uses irony is The Cask of Amontillado. Which is about a man named Montresor who believes this other man named Fortunato insulted him. Montresor’s family motto is “no one insults me with impunity”, he feels justified in taking revenge on Fortunato.
Although chapter four of “The Boy’s Ambition” by Mark Twain and chapter five of Frederick Douglass's “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” were written in the 1800’s and tell about the author's childhood, they are written very differently. While Twain uses exaggeration to create humor, Douglass uses a formal diction to create ethos. The use of these writing techniques make each piece of writing believable and lasting. Although the situation for each author was very different, the similarities between the texts show the similarities in their character.
The “greatest American humorist of his age”, Mark Twain once said, “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.” From Missouri to Nevada, apprentice to father of American literature, short stories to novels—Twain became the well-known author he is today because of the impact his life adventures and trial had on him (5). Author of the excerpt from A Presidential Candidate, Twain often used humor and wit to illustrate his stories and make his point known. Through his use of satire, irony, and rhetorical questions, Twain exposes the perceived truths of the Presidential campaigns and candidacies. In his excerpt, Twain uses satire to illustrate how anyone can run for President regardless of experience (14).
In Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain used satire to ridicule different aspects of American society during that time. This satire allowed for a humorous take on major events through the eyes of the author. To start off, the family feud between the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords represented the foolish behavior of the North and South during the Civil War. Next, Mark Twain mocked slavery and anyone who condones it, such as Miss Watson. Lastly, the fact that the towns people would rather blame a black man for the supposive death of Huckleberry then a white man.
The Ironic Truth Irony is a complex and important element of literature that can help discover hidden perspectives within characters or hide the truth in plain sight. The story by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a great example the dark ironic twist that happen in the story. The main character, Montresor, is hell-bent on getting his revenge on the man who shamed him, Fortunato. The verbal and dramatic irony that is being used in the story “The Cask of Amontillado” helps hide the true intentions that Montresor has planned for Fortunato. Verbal irony happens when one character says one thing but actually means something completely different.
Irony is a technique that involves surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions or contrasts ( Glossary... Pg 1). The greatest example of irony happens when it turns out Armand is the one that comes from black heritage. He learns this when he “finds a letter from his mom to his father explaining how he is black” turning the main plot of this story around (Chopin... Pg 5)