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Use Of Irony In The Velveteen Rabbit

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Creating a contrast between appearance and reality is a powerful literary device. It can convey a sense of assurance to the audience while leaving the subjects in disarray. Scholars have deemed this device as an irony, and it is used in almost all of the influential works of literature that are present in one form or another. The uses of irony in these works of art bring further meaning to them and are analyzed to almost no end by those same scholars. However irony is not simply a high level literary tool. Irony can also be used in children’s literature to enhance the meaning behind the story add more layers of depth. One children’s story where irony is prominently featured is the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco. Mrs. Bianco uses irony to play with the classic paradigm of the coming of age story through the eyes of a …show more content…

He questions whether or not he is real and goes so far as to ask what being real truly means which is the main conflict in the beginning of the story. Obviously, it is a generally accepted fact that toys are not real, in the same sense that they are not alive. Nonetheless the rabbit has this crisis of something that is often experienced in coming of age stories and eventually grows through it. This is most evident through the Rabbit’s interaction with the Skin Horse. When the Rabbit asks “What is real” the Skin Horse replies wisely “‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ … ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real.’” This wisdom is not only down to earth and allegorical for children of all ages, but also ironic. In reality a toy will never become except in a child’s imagination. However this encouragement of innocence and imagination is an exceptional use of irony in order to further the story and bring more meaning to the character of the Velveteen

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