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Irony In Thank You Ma Am

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“I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It’s as simple as it gets in this complicated world.” Julio Diaz has an interesting view on people and the world and so does Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones in the story “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes. In the radio show, Morning Edition hosted by Michael Garofalo, he tells the story of a man named julio Diaz and how he treated his mugger with kindness. In “Thank You, Ma’am” Mrs.Luella does the same and teaches a young boy what’s right and what’s wrong. Many people shun or act rudely to the people who don’t know any better. Oppositely, in these two stories, the irony is used to show that people who don’t know any better must be taught. “Thank You, Ma’am” uses irony to emphasize the victim acting nicely towards her harasser, giving off a message of kindness to others and teaching them what is right and wrong instead of punishment. “...because shoes …show more content…

“You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.” (Garofolo 5). It shows irony that is also used in “Thank You, Ma’am” that a person who was attacked shows kindness to the person who had tried to do them wrong, and in the process, changed how they think and thought them what was right. Neither of them used violence but did use ironic situations to talk to the attackers. Irony can be used to create humor, but in the stories “Thank You, Ma’am,” and “A Victim Treats His Mugger Right” irony is used to develop the central ideas. In two stories where an older figure treats the young in a kind manner and teaches them a life lesson. Normally when someone does wrong to another, the victim thinks no good of the other, when really they need to be taught what is right and what is

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