The Veldt: A Literary Analysis

Irony is the most powerful literary device used in the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. First, a good example of irony in the story is “They were burdened with sashweights sand bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in.” (P,2 Line, 11-13) This quote is Ironic as it tells how this system was designed to hide beauty, yet beauty was still shown by the amount of restraints on the person. Second, another good example of irony is, “The spectacles were intended to make him not only half-blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.”(P,11 Line,4) This is an example of how gifted people’s lives were harder than

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. Dramatic irony is usually an over the top, tragic form of irony. Both Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” are great examples of an ironic situation. Every expresses the common theme in their own way. Although both of these literally pieces provide us with the theme of irony, Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" gives the reader a sense of suspense with the irony that proves to be more effective.

Irony is one of the rhetorical devices in which it it uncovers the difference between the truth and something expected. Predominantly, it detects the misconceptions or the unfairness of a specific situation. (http://figurativelanguage.net/Irony.html)

A tradition or idea that is followed and not questioned by some could potentially be dangerous or illogical. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”, the dangers of blindly following a tradition is portrayed. In “The Lottery,” a village gathers around every year on June 27th to hold a lottery. Mr. Summers leads the tradition every year. This lottery is very unusual; the winner will become the loser. The Hutchinson family is chosen at this year’s lottery. The mother, Tessie says it is unfair and she is ultimately the chosen winner of the lottery. The winner of this lottery is stoned to death by their neighbors. Whether a tradition is immoral or not, some follow traditions for no apparent reason other just following what they were taught.

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. Some examples “Don’t forget to thank Satan for the baby Alive he gave you last year”. Even though they used the name Satan it was actually implied to be for Santa.

The most obvious example of irony in “The Lottery” is in the title of the story itself. When people think about the lottery, it is usually about winning a reward or a prize, and definitely not about being stoned to death. Shirley Jackson’s intention to name the title of this story as “The Lottery”, gives the readers an idea that someone will receive a reward. In fact, at the end of the story, the readers eventually realize that the reward is not what they think it’s going to be but rather a completely opposite thing. The second example of irony is in the setting of the story. Jackson’s use of words in the opening description convinces the readers that this is just a fun and positive story and that is nothing bad could happen. He

What I learnt from the source was how the lottery doesn’t just use the standardize irony that is generally recognized by the audience. But in particular, Shirley Jackson uses dramatic irony. We are proposed by dramatic irony from the start of story. Before I had even read the story, I assumed that this would be one of those happy/cheesy stories with that amazing “Disney Pixar” ending where everyone lives happy and a good life. And I was yet to be proven wrong when I began reading the story as Shirley Jackson presented the setting as a beautiful day and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Then before we know it, by the end of the day the audience is presented by this old fashioned, gruesome death of stoning. This source is most accurately going to be used in my essay, by its citation for irony of the “stoning” itself. I quote “though the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones”. Ironically no one in the community understands why they must kill a citizen each year, but in response, know “exactly” how to throw stones and kill

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. In the short story by Edgar Allen Poe, there are countless examples of irony to convey Montresor’s unlawful act, while applying an additional layer of irony to sabotage his revenge.

For example, the poem says '"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone in the stands; and it's likely they'd have killed him had Casey not raised his hand." When the author said this he was using humor, the people in the crowd were just mad and they would not have actually killed the umpire. An example of irony would be when everyone calls Casey the "Mighty Casey," because

Irony is used to throw the reader off track and make the story more alluring. In “The Masque of Red Death,” Prince Prospero’s castle walls “had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within,”(57). When all entrances are sealed most would think that nothing could get in. That's what Prince Prospero thought, however the Red Death still could get in. Prince Prospero’s mind was distorted because of fear. His big fear of dying by the Red Death clouded his rational thought, so much that he excluded ever commoner and left them to die. As a result of him isolating himself from the disease, it came and found him. Prince Prospero didn’t realize that death is inevitable no matter what. Irony is the opposite of what you would expect and it can show how distorted the brain can get when reaction to fear. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” “His room was a black as pitch,” says the narrator, “with the thick darkness (for the shutters were closed and fastened, through fear of robbers,)”(75). The irony here is that the old man puts up the shutters in fear of being robbed or killed by people coming in, however, he didn't expect the threat to come from the inside. Fear led not only the old man to shut himself in, but also for the narrator to kill the old man

Shirley Jackson creates a suspenseful and captive story by using irony in “ The Lottery ”. Irony is a technique that involves surprising, interesting,or amusing contradictions or contrast (Teaching...1). Jackson uses irony in many different ways even starting from the title to the very end. By using irony it keeps the readers engaged and focused on the main point of the story.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" begins with the capture of the protagonist Peyton Farquhar, a plantation and slave owner. Bierce paints a vivid picture of the surroundings around Farquhar as he awaits to be hanged. It then flashes back to the days leading up to the hanging. Where Farquhar was deceived by a federal spy claiming to be a confederate soldier. In the end, we see Farquhar escape from reality as he is serving his sentence to finally his demise. Throughout the story we can tell by the way Ambrose Bierce uses military terminology that he had served in the military during the Civil War (Grenander) "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" carries the reader back to the American Civil War to experience the final days of Peyton Farquhar, and to reflect on the events and ultimate deception that brought him to his fate

Irony is often used in literature to illustrate certain situations to the audience. In some pieces of literature that might be pointing out an unjust system, in others that might be to add a comedic effect, but whatever situation the author wants to illustrate, irony is very beneficial. Through small and witty, one-liners, or a bigger dramatic irony situation contrasting two very different situations, irony can be very beneficial for the reader to understand the story. Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins have a corrupt dystopian society. Through the use of irony, the author can portray the corruptness to the audience. Transition!!! Irony is used in both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger

For example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator tries to prove to the reader that he is sane. “How, then, am I mad?” Later on in the story, he tells the reader “I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.” This is verbal irony since right after he said that he is sane, he confesses to the reader that he killed the old man. After the narrator asked how he was mad, suspense kept building, making the reader question if he was really sane and going to kill the man, until he actually killed the man. Another example of irony in this text is dramatic irony. The reader knows that the narrator is planning to kill the man very soon, while the man has no clue that he is about to be killed, and he is just sleeping. “To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.” The readers know that the narrator is stalking the old man, while the old man is just sleeping. Suspense is created since the reader does not know what the old man will do, whether he will be killed, or whether he will notice the

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) Throughout the discovery of his son not being white, he blames Desiree for being the cause of the problem. He won’t speak out of the discovery of him being the one with black heritage because it is unacceptable to his family. He is insensitive and would rather harm his own family (Gradesaver.com...1) Another example of irony occurs in the way that Madame Valmonde didn 't have a child of herself and one day while her husband was riding he comes upon a child just asleep next to a stone pillar (Chopin...Pg. 1) The family adopted the girl that had no family. “Madame Valmonde abandoned every speculation but the one that Desiree had been sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection” (Chopin...Pg. 1)