In the "Birthday Party," Katherine Brush shows what- at a glance- seems to be a non-suspicious dinner between a happily, "unmistakably," married couple; yet, when examined closer is obviously a dinner gone wrong. Her use of syntax, along with other literary devices, help show how a book shouldn't be judged by its cover.…
Similarly, Twain uses situational irony to depict and to satirize Miss Watson and Widow Douglas' religious beliefs as well as the hypocrisy of Miss Watson’s guidance. Miss Watson educates Huck about religion and how to act appropriately through telling stories such as “Moses and the Bulrushes” (2), where Moses freed the Hebrew slaves from captivity. However, Miss Watson owns Jim, a slave, contradicting the moral of the story, Moses freeing slaves. Also, it is ironic that Miss Watson brings her slaves in for evening prayers: ”fetched the niggers in and had prayers”(3).Despite against the moral character of Christianity of having slaves, Miss Watson continues to teach these “righteous” behaviors to Huck, creating an ironic situation. Although…
Ray Bradbury strengthens the use of verbal, dramatic, and situational irony through Montag and Mildred to emphasize his points in the story about Mildred’s lack of acknowledgement for her real family, her forgetting about overdosing and Montag being a firemen who starts fires. Bradbury creates verbal irony to explain Mildred’s neglect for her real family, Montag. We see this happening when he asks her to turn off the parlor and she responds, “That’s my family” (Bradbury 46). This passage proves that Mildred is an example of verbal irony due to her calling the walls with TV’s her family and caring more for them than Montag. Moreover Bradbury generates dramatic irony to emphasize Mildred overdosing on her medicine and then forgetting about it…
Heller utilizes comedic satire throughout the entirety of Catch-22. Rather than blatantly stating all of the horror that war brings about, Heller uses humorous and ironic stories to convey what he clearly feels are almost laughable instances. Doc Daneeka’s “death" is a perfect example of utilizing humor to express an almost unbelievable truth. Because of his fear of flight (which is ironic, considering he is the flight surgeon), Yossarian convinces McWatt to log his name while never actually flying. During one flight, while Doc Daneeka remain on the ground (although he was accounted for as being on the flight), McWatt flies too low and kills Kid Sampson. Out of grief, McWatt commits suicide by flying into a mountain. Doc Daneeka, presumably…
Tannen’s descriptions of types of miscommunications are black and white, but I believe they tend to be more of a grey area of classification. As seen in personal experiences, perhaps women do apologize a little too often. The reactions from men and women when complaining can switch between genders, as well. As discussed, men and women do not fit into one classification of what they find humorous. Overall, miscommunication is difficult to categorize with one sex or the…
Dink is a couple who do not have children. One factor for forming such a couple is when a female…
In the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, he uses dramatic, verbal, and situational irony throughout his story to create an unreliable narrator. A man who has plenty of knowledge of wine is being led to his death. The speaker of this story is displayed as unreliable because of the three types of irony used but, verbal irony is strongly used to make the speaker untrustworthy.…
Women have a completely different view point then men. They aim to be accepted by others, they try to avoid conflict, and they tend to show that they understand what the other person is trying to say. For example, in chapter 6, Tannen begins to explain how in a comic, the two boys are fighting while a girl named Debbie is trying to be the peacemaker. She claims that she is looking for someone but the boys say that the person isn’t there. Even though she knows the person is there, she acts like she…
Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest provides a satirical view of the Victorian era, primarily focusing on Victorian standards of marriage and social expectations. Wilde builds his critique of Victorian morality through his humor and wit between the character’s banter, the hypocritical Victorian view of honesty.…
Attention gentlemen if you are having troubles and haven’t figured out all the secrets to understanding and attracting women then this pamphlet is for you. There are billions of women out there and any of them can be yours all you do is treat them right, or wrong actually. If you know anything about women it’s that the last thing they want in a guy is a nice guy. Sure, they might say that’s what they want but that’s just because women don’t even know what they want. You have to show them what they want.…
During the last 20 years, there has been a profound change in the manner in which women are…
The essay “What’s Funny to Him Is Funnier to Her”, by Anne Mcllroy (2005) in reality are cuts from newspaper article which she had written for ‘Globe and Mail’, and appeared on November 8, 2005 issue. It radically compares and contrast the humor of women and men. A cartoon about two birds is used in an experiment and explains that women uses more brain than men when responding to humor. The experiment compares its findings to gambling or snort crack cocaine, which concludes similar results. According to Rob Martin men likes more of visual and action based jokes while women likes anecdotes or stories. Also, men prefer to comment on each other, whereas women prefer to be polite and maintain the relationship says Dr.Martin. Daniela O’Neill states that among children boys are more forward to start a conversation than a girl by knock-knock jokes. According to Eliman Azim’s brain imaging research, both men and women has the same response to the humor as the same part of brain is active to a similar extent, except the prefrontal cortex and limbic system which were more active in women.…
Wharton’s novella, The Old Maid, carefully details the lives of the Old New York elite in the 1850s. Despite having all the glitz and glamor associated with a lavish lifestyle, many of the characters do not have the courage to effect change in their lives. The truth of the matter is that money creates the illusion of free will because individuals are still limited by strict societal expectations, specifically unwritten codes of behavior, that if not followed results in bitter judgment. While this ironic repression is felt throughout society, it clearly affects women much more. This is seen through the intuitions of marriage and motherhood, and plays out in how Charlotte's out of wedlock child Tina is brought up and raised.…
From being linked to demons and entities to becoming the new colloquial hyperbole, the word “depressed” has significantly changed over time coinciding with the change of culture and history. According to the multiple definitions on Oxford English Dictionary, “depressed” can mean “put or kept down by pressure or force,” “lowered, sunken, or low in position,” or “brought low, oppressed, dejected, downcast, etc.; esp. in low spirits.” In particular, the main definition that pertains to society today is “brought low... especially in low spirits” (Oxford English Dictionary). Almost everyone can admit that they have said “I am so depressed” to express disappointment or distress, even when their emotions are borderline. However, because of this normalization, it belittles and desensitizes the serious denotation of the word “depressed” and the mental illness.…
This poem has long been a favorite of mine. In playful verse, Hardy manages to make a life of sin seem more attractive than one of virtue. By contrasting Audrey and her grubby country life of drudgery with that of Amelia, the fallen woman with fine clothes and leisure, he suggests that virtue is its own reward. Audrey's parting comment about wishing she could enjoy such a life is countered by Amelia pointing out that she cannot unless she is also ruined. One wonders if Audrey follows in her friends footsteps. Incidently, Elsa Lanchester recorded this poem as a song on her Bawdy Cockney Songs album, some decades ago. It is a delightful ditty.…