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Use of satire in pride and prejudice
Use of satire in pride and prejudice
Use of satire in pride and prejudice
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Sedaris tells his story with a splash of humor in his personal narrative. He uses his first person thoughts, which are unfiltered and natural. Even though I, myself, have not smoked, I can relate to his story. I can put myself in his shoes. Irony and humor work together and if something is humorous, it is ironic. During the beginning of his narrative he talks about hating the smell of smoke and his action of driving "an embroidery needle" into his mother's pack of Winston's as if it were a "voodoo doll", but he turns around and ends up being a smoker himself. Even Sedaris sees the humor of the situation when he says, "Given my reputation as a strident non-smoker; it was funny how quick I took to cigarettes." The dialogue Sedaris uses aids
In David Sedaris’s story, “A Plague of Tics”, he effectively demonstrates vivid imagery by describing how “if he mashed the right amount of force, a blow to the nose can be positively narcotic. Touching objects satisfied a mental itch, but the task involved a great deal of movement; run upstairs, cross the room, remove a shoe” (365). His use of imagery through words such as “mashed” and “blow to the nose”, appealing to the sense of touch, paint a clear picture in the reader’s mind of the amount of force he uses in order to satisfy a mental itch. The imagery illustrates to the reader how much force is used instead of directly saying it in the text, allowing the reader to stay involved in interpreting the story. Also, Sedaris writes about his
In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, irony is often used to convey information and contribute to the overall theme of the novel. Many parts of the book contain this irony because it works well for fueling either the main antagonist or protagonist actions. Fahrenheit 451 is a book based on the ideals of a “utopian society” where books are illegal and burned if they’re found. Firemen are ordered to burn books and all houses that contain them, versus putting out fires and protecting people. In communities people don’t think, they cannot be ‘intellectuals’, and they are forced become drones of the government’s ideals. In the novel Farenheit 451 irony is used to express the complex ideas of the society, but also gives the book more understanding and meaning by making us think differently, how characters are ironically told not to.
Like salt and pepper to beef, irony adds “flavor” to some of the greatest works of literature. No matter if readers look at old pieces of work like Romeo and Juliet or more modern novels like To Kill a Mockingbird, irony’s presence serve as the soul fuel that pushes stories forward. By definition, irony occurs when writers of books, plays, or movies destine for one event or choice to occur when the audiences expects the opposite; like Tom Robinson being found guilty after all evidences point other ways in To Kill a Mockingbird. These unique plot twists add mystery and enjoyability to hundreds of books. From the very beginning of The Chosen, a novel written by Chaim Potok, to the very end, irony’s presences does not leave the reader at any
“I’d Rather Smoke than Kiss.” is Florence King’s very astute retort to anti-smokers. In this writing she advocates for smoking as a simple enjoyable thing to do. To emphasize this she recalls her first smoking experience, which is for the most part very normal and unexciting. However, this inconsequential account is not indicative of the rest of the story. King quickly switches gears as she goes on the attack. In the first section she labels hatred of smokers as a form of misanthropy which she goes on to say is “the most popular form of closet misanthropy in America today” (King 32). This perspective is further augmented by the fact that she considers second-hand smoke an invention; a means for the “Passive Americans” (King 32), to justify prejudice towards smokers.
Irony is present throughout a major section of the story and follows the midwifery of Aminata and the unfortunate fates suffered by her own children. Throughout the course of the novel, Aminata makes a living “catching babies” for women of all colors everywhere that she ends up, receiving payment in currency as well as gifts in food and shelter. However, when it comes time for Aminata to have her own child, Mamadu, he ends up being taken from her by her first slave master, Robinson Appleby who ends up being sold to a plantation in the Southern United States. Later in the story, despite her best efforts, she has her second child sent to London during a massacre of black people in Nova Scotia, being separated once again and unable to care for her child. The irony lies in the fact that she catches and cares for so many children in the story, yet when it comes to her own offspring, she has them taken away.
In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger, an orphaned little girl living in Nazi Germany, evolves partly through her numerous literary thefts. At her younger brother’s gravesite, she steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, which teaches her not only the method to physically bury her brother, but also lets her emotionally bury him and move on. The theft of her next book, The Shoulder Shrug, from a book burning marks the start of Liesel’s awareness and resistance to the Nazi regime. As a story with a Jewish protagonist “who [is] tired of letting life pass him by – what he refer[s] to as the shrugging of the shoulders to the problems and pleasures of a person’s time on earth,” this novel prepares her both for resisting the
An element of literature in The Interlopers is situational irony. Irony is the contrast between an actual outcome and what the reader or the characters expect. Irony is important to this story because a major family conflict would have ended, but an event occurred and changed that. Irony is in the interlopers when the wolves came and ate the men. When Georg says, “I will be your friend” it was major irony (Saki 309). The whole story the reader thought that the two men would surely kill each other when they met, but they made up. Also, when Ulrich said “Wolves” there is a turning point fueled by Irony (Saki 310).
Sedaris changed from a non- smoker to a frequent smoker. In one incident, Sedaris used a cigarette to seem tough when he was faced with an individual who he described to be prison like. Sedaris reacted to this incident with, “I might have simply covered, but now I put a cigarette in my mouth [...] This man was going to rob me [...] but no, ‘give me one of those [cigarettes]’ he said” (2) .Sedaris uses this experience to show a sense that in society one looks tough while smoking, and that they won 't get bothered when they have a cigarette in their mouth. This also shows there is a bond between smokers. This perceived bond between a man who looked like a criminal and a man who puts a cigarette in his mouth made Sedaris feel tough about himself. Even though Sedaris may not admit that, he is an addict smoker, smoking controlled him, as when he states, “When New York banned smoking in the workplace I quit working. When banned in restaurants I stop eating out” (3). Sedaris here is not just a smoker, but a smoker who is so controlled by smoking that he puts smoking over his job and even eating. This definitely shows the negative effect that smoking has had over
The way that Kurt Vonnegut is portraying the story “Harrison Bergeron” is almost with a sense of mockery. Take Harrison for instance, he’s pretty much super man. Seven feet tall, strong as an ox, good looking, a genius, and an amazing dancer at only fourteen years old. He's also the only person unafraid of overthrowing the government. Harrison's own father wont even take one of the heavy balls he must lug around on his neck out, in fear of getting caught, fined, and thrown into jail. Harrison on the other hand has been thrown into jail for trying to overthrow the government once already. Once escaping prison he declares himself the emperor and then sets out to find his empress. Kurt Vonnegut was trying to portray the supreme man through Harrison.
To his luck, he arrived to the United States at the time cigarette smoking peaked at a high. All of his co-workers smoked constantly throughout the day. On the other hand, Samuel, keeping with his traditional beliefs on smoking, did not smoke cigarettes. During Samuel’s first week of work, his acquaintances constantly greeted him and offered tons of cigarettes but he took none. Eventually, all offers came to a halt and he earned the reputation of as an outcast in the office for not smoking. Although done unintentionally through his conservativeness and keeping with his traditional views, my uncle let himself become the social outcast in the
After dinner the husband continues to test Robert and ask him if he would like some marijuana. The narrator is surprised when Robert accepts his offer to smoke. His first smoke was a little awkward because the narrator had to explain to Robert how to smoke it. After a couple puffs, the narrator is impressed on how well Robert smoked the marijuana. This is when the husband starts to see Robert as a person and not a blind man; he is starting to relate to Robert a little bit.
In literature, the significant themes of a story can sometimes be developed within dramatic death scenes. With that being said, Zora Neale Hurston 's presents an unappreciated housewife and her high-class husband 's sinful ways which ultimately lead to the husband 's unplanned death, in her short story “Sweat”. The concluding death scene can best be described as illustrating the theme as “what goes around comes around”. Sykes was abusive and tried plotting his wife, Delia 's, death by using a rattlesnake, but his plan backfired and it was Sykes that was killed in the end.
Kurt Vonnegut uses a combination of dark humor and irony in Slaughterhouse-Five. As a result, the novel enables the reader to realize the horrors of war while simultaneously laughing at some of the absurd situations it can generate. Mostly, Vonnegut wants the reader to recognize the fact that one has to accept things as they happen because no one can change the inevitable.
Irony can often be found in many literary works. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is masterfully written full of irony. The characters of the short story, Mrs. Mallard, Josephine, Richards, Mr. Brently Mallard, and the doctors all find their way into Chopin’s ironic twists. Chopin embodies various ironies in “The Story of an Hour” through representations of verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony.
Irony in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde The play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is full of irony. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, the protagonists in the play, get themselves into a complicated situation called Bunburyism (as Algernon refers to it). They pretend to be someone that they are not to escape their daily lives. They lie to the women they admire, and eventually the truth is revealed.