First Confession Irony

607 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How has religion affected literature

Comedy is one of the most important elements of the human experience. It is difficult to imagine what life would be like without humoristic elements. This is something that Frank O' Connor takes advantage of and manifests in his short story "First Confession". He accomplishes this by employing numerous literary devices, especially irony. The juxtaposition of contradictory elements also leads to comedy, which this author uses masterfully; this includes the paradoxes of the Catholic religion, which the author contemplates in the story. Finally, the characters themselves are cartoonish, which also leads to the humor in the story. O' Connor's story "First Confession" employs irony, contradiction and characterization in order to inject comedy into his story. One of the most comic aspects of "First Confession" is its use of irony. This is especially noticeable in the end of the story, which serves as the punch line to the whole tale. After being oppressed with discourses with respect to sin and an unpleasant afterlife, the author ends up actually giving candy to a sinner for going to confess herself. Furthermore, if the author knows that this is the way that the Catholic Church works, the whole story serves as ironic foreshadowing to this moment. Evidently, the ironic elements in this …show more content…

These elements are comic because of how exaggerated and ignorant the characters are. The ending is especially funny because it subverts the whole story, contradicting the frightening elements of the teacher that is supposed to lead them towards salvation, but only leads them to sin. This is juxtaposed to the ending, when one of the first girls that does the communion are prized with candy. It is interesting to see how an author can inject social and religious commentary to such a simple story through the use of

Show More
Related

  • Literary Devices in Carver's Cathedral

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hence, upon analyzing the story, one can conclude the certain themes that parallel through the pages. Firstly, a theme of unity and trust is present at the end of the play. This is supported by the image of the cathedral, which is a place of unity. Most importantly, the notion of equality among people is the main theme within this story. The narrator starts as a biased, idiot, who dislikes all people that are not like himself. He even at times is rude to his wife. Ironically, it takes a blind man to change the man that can literally see, to rule out the prejudices and to teach him that all men are created equal.

    Read More

  • Frank Pulver Character Analysis

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    One example of this is inappropriate humor is when Doc and Roberts discuss the stories of Pulver such as when he “ conquered a forty-five-year-old virgin by the simple tactic of being the first man in her life to ask her a direct question”(345) and when he “rendered pregnant three girls in Washington D.C., caught the eleven forty-five train, and an hour later performed the same service for a young lady in Baltimore”(345). These two stories shared over drinks are humorous, but also make Pulver seem like a sleazy and immature person. One other example of the humor is when Frank Pulver create a story that he is the Executive Officer, but finds out that he should stay true to himself. For example, when Roberts says he “stays true to alcohol and orange juice”(375) to joke with Pulver, they find out that “a lot of the girls at the hospital swear by orange juice and alcohol”(376). This is a humorous moment, but it shows that Pulver is not mature enough to stay true to himself and feels as though he needs to lie about who he is. Through humorous moments throughout the play, Logan is able to make people laugh, but also see Frank Pulver as extremely

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jesus Shaves By David Sedaris

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    The conflict was the language barrier, which the students were trying to explain the Moroccan woman what Easter is. They all celebrated the same holiday but each describe Easter differently and their French grammar was very bad when they explained. One student with his bad grammar in French try to explain what Easter is by saying, “He weared the long hair, and after he died the first day he came here to say hello to the peoples” (473 Sedaris). Each student had a different point of view on what Easter symbolizes and how it is celebrated. . The teacher explain how Easter is celebrated in France by saying, “here in France the chocolate is brought by the big bell that flies in from Rome” (473 Sedaris). A student argued that a bunny is the one that distributes the food and not the bell. The tone of the short story was sarcastic, humorous, and witty tone because the Sedaris is well known for it and he incorporates it in Jesus Shaves. The main character explains why the rabbit is the symbol of Easter and not the bell in a humor way. The main character said “a rabbit has eyes, rabbits move from place to place, while most bells can only go back and forth” (473

    Read More

  • Essay on Loosing Faith in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the main literary devices would be imagery. One of the most important images found in the story pertains to Faith and reaching heaven. Goodman Brown says, "...I‘ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven."(H-CAL 375). This follows traditional Puritan belief that if you have faith you will go to heaven. The uses of dark and light also help convey the religious theme of good and evil. Dark is used to symbolize evil, the woods is mainly where this is seen. Light is mostly seen in the beginning, before Goodman enters the forest. Before it all becomes dark and gray. Colors also played an important role. In the beginning Faith pink ribbons in her hair, which represent that she is young and happy. With white symbolizing purity and red representing passion,...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Persepolis

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ethos is used throughout page five. The second panel on page five depicts the narrators mother protesting the veil. This shows the narrator is trustworthy because she was directly influenced by the protest of the veil. For example, panels five and six depict the narrators mother disguising herself due to photos of her protesting being published. Pathos is used throughout this excerpt. The first panel on page four depicts the children playing at recess before the religious revolution. In this photo all of the young boys are wearing shorts and girls are wearing light weight dresses. These children are smiling and look to be happy. The fifth panel on page three shows recess after the religious revolution. Schools are now segregated by gender, so boys are not depicted in this drawing. The school uniform has changes from light weight dresses to what looks like trench coat, a veil, and long tights. The children seem to be unhappy and lethargic compared to the previous depiction. This could be due to heat exhaustion caused by the new uniforms. A girl is even depicted saying “it is too hot out!” in this panel. These contrasting depictions make the reader sympathize with the children. Logos is mainly used to set up historical context for the excerpt. Pages one and two are the primary source of this context. For example, the history of Iran and its many invasions. The use of ethos, pathos, and

    Read More

  • Book Review Of The Book 'Changes And Ceremonies'

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    In chapter five, “Changes and Ceremonies”, the school holds their annual operetta. It was ironic that this year they would be preforming The Pied Piper. It is a story about town children that are lured away from their homes by a magician. During the rehearsals for the play, the students are "freed by the operetta from the routine of our lives, remembering the classroom where Mr. McKenna kept busy with spelling bees and mental arithmetic those not chosen, as someplace sad and dim, left behind, we were all Miss Farris' allies now" (Munro, 124). I could really relate to this part because each day for me is a routine. I drive to school, walk the same halls, sit in a classroom with the same four walls, see the same people, and go home. On weekends is the only time where I am freed from the routine. Throughout this chapter, we see a different side of Del. Del grows a crush on a boy in her class and this is the first time in the book that Del has had sexual feelings towards someone. At the end of the chapter, four or five years later, Miss Farris, the director of the play, commits suicide by drowning herself in a river. The reader may recall Miss Farris' stressful yell at the operetta rehearsal: "I might as well leap off the Town Hall! I might as well leap now! Are you are prepared to take the responsibility?" (Munro, 127). I thought it was ironic how Miss Farris said that during the play, and ends up committing suicide at the end of the chapter.

    Read More

  • Confessions, by Saint Augustine

    5013 Words  | 11 Pages

    In the Confessions, by Saint Augustine, Augustine addressed himself articulately and passionately to the persistent questions that stirred the minds and hearts of men since time began. The Confessions tells a story in the form of a long conversion with God. Through this conversion to Catholic Christianity, Augustine encounters many aspects of love. These forms of love help guide him towards an ultimate relationship with God. His restless heart finally finds peace and rest in God at the end of The Confessions.

    Read More

  • Comparison Essay

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    The differences of these two plays, gives one a sense that any general idea can be broken into a distinct one and not sway away from its intended idea. This means, a comedy can be made into a tragedy, romance, and other themes, and yet still maintain the purpose of providing laughter to the audience. This shows the development of literature over the years, as many more subcategories result because of the contrasts.

    Read More

  • The Facade of Tattoos

    2107 Words  | 5 Pages

    First of all, in order to understand O’Connor’s short story, the reader must look into the background of her life. “Parker’s Back” was the last story written by O’Connor before she died at the early age of thirty-nine from the disease of Lupus. Her writings all reflect from her religious background of Catholicism. “O’Connor wrote brilliant stories that brought the issue of religious faith into clear dramatic focus. She was a devout Roman Catholic living in predominantly Protestant rural Georgia. Her stories are far from pious; in fact, their mode is usually shocking and often bizarre. Yet the religious issues they raise are central to her work (Drake, online vertical file--------------------------------).” “Time and again in her stories, the spokesmen for a self-satisfied secularism run afoul of representatives of... the God-haunted protagonists…they play an indispensable role…they act as spiritual catalysts…(CLC, p276………………………………….).” “To even the casual reader it would appear that Miss O’Connor really had only one story to tell and really only one main character. This principal character is, of course, Jesus Christ; and her one story is man’s absolutely crucial encounter with Him (Drake, p273).”

    Read More

  • Laughter

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, McMurphy often uses the power of laughter to overcome what is going on in the world around him. Laughter lightens the feeling in the book, and at times gives it a warmer feeling. It also helps develop, and shape the characters throughout the entire story.

    Read More

  • The Nerd Play Summary

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    My least favorite aspect of this play was the ending. The ending confused me and was anticlimactic. It was not funny and not entertaining at all.

    Read More

  • Flannery O'Connor's Use of Religious Allegory

    2386 Words  | 5 Pages

    At the outset, an insightful reader needs to draft the general boundaries of allegory and symbolism in the story. To put it most simple, the problem of distinguishing between good and evil undergoes a discussion. It is not difficult to notice that the Grandmother stands for good and the Misfit for evil. But such a division would be a sweeping and superficial generalisation, for both the characters epitomize good and evil traits. Moral evaluation is a very complex process and it is not the human who is to decide on that. There are rather various degrees of goodness and evil, both interwoven, also in their religiousness. Th...

    Read More

  • Humor as an Argument: A Modest Proposal

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humor can come in many different forms. Many people are aware of the blatant humor of slapstick, but it takes a keener mind to notice the subtle detail in sarcasm or satire. In A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift was able to create a piece of literature addressing the faults of the Irish culture while embedding in a humorous essay. Swift’s satire allows for the gravity of the Irish standings to be exploited under the disguise of a proposal for economic benefit.

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing in Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...le contradicts the pleasant ambience of the town.  When the foreshadowing job reaches its goal, it leads to the climatic point of the story.  Through this climax, the reader sees the cruelty of the residents and how they undervalue life for this particular ritual.

    Read More

  • tragoed Elements of Tragedy in Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    It is not the tragic subject matter of the text that is of primary interest - but rather the manner in which the plot is developed. The story line progresses as if the reader is "unpeeling an onion."

    Read More

More about First Confession Irony

Open Document