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Unfortunate Irony "Hope" Ariel Dorfman

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Unfortunate Irony "Hope" Ariel Dorfman
Essay 2
Unfortunate Irony
In the poem “Hope” by Ariel Dorfman the use of irony is what really sets and delivers the mood of this heart wrenching story. The author uses a very straight forward approach in this poem because they are essentially just telling the story, adding loose rhythm and rhyme structure. The best way for the author to get the point of this tragedy across is with subtle but profound irony. The mother and father finding “joy” in this horrible event is the best example of irony.
Irony in my opinion is what can really drive home the feeling of the author or lyricist and is a way to completely change the direction of feeling. In Hope, when the author says “we couldn’t find out anything else about him”, it’s as if the author’s implying they don’t know where they are taking him, what they are doing with him, or if they’ll ever see him again. The irony in this statement is that we assume that until completing the poem and rereading it, that maybe the parents will not get to see the child grow up. The author is speculating this early on that they will not see their child do all those things we have all been able to do and our parents have watched us do. Because they already know and somewhat accept what is going to happen to the child. The author is completely aware of what kind of situation this has brought about. You see this when Ariel says, “somebody tell me frankly what times are these, what kind of word, what country”. Ariel knows, these are terrible times…
This type of irony really reminds of classic and contemporary country lyrics. The one that comes to mind immediately is “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones. The story he tells is of a man that’s hopelessly in love with a former lover that no longer loves him. The opening line really sets the tone with Jones’ haunting twang, “He said I’ll love you till I die, She said you’ll forget in time.” But as the story explains, he doesn’t. Jones’ lyrics are extremely painful


Cited: Dorfman, Ariel. “Hope”. Kirszner/Mandell Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing Jones, George. “He Stopped Loving Her Today” http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/jones-george/he-stopped-loving-her-today-18102.html
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