Irony

Irony is an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; a statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea. There are three kinds of irony:

1. verbal irony: is when an author says one thing and means something else.
2. dramatic irony: is when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know.
3. irony of situation: is a discrepency between the expected result and actual results.

Irony exists in my life in many examples. An example of irony in my life is how I always carry my umbrella everywhere I go. Then the one day I forgot my umbrella and it started raining. I got caught in the rain. Another example of irony in my life is how I attended all my global classes and studied for the global regents and when I took the test I failed it.

The poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson, is an example of irony. This poem is an example of irony because the author makes "Richard Cory" look like he has the perfect life, someone who seems to have everything they could ever ask for. The second stanza says,"and he was always quietly arrayed,and he was always human when he talked; but still he fluttered pulses when he said,"good-morning." That's how we know he dresses in rich clothing and seems very respectful towards other but also seemed to be in a rush. At the end of the third stanza it says,"in fine, we thought he was everything to make us wish that we were in his place." We now know people of the town envy "Richard Cory"because they portrayed him to have it all. In the fourth stanza it says,"and Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head." In the end "Richard Cory" kills himself. This is an example of irony because we wouldn't expect someone who is rich and living well to just give that all up by putting a bullet through his head.

The short story " The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, is an example of irony. In the beginning two hunters are talking, Whitney and Rainsford. Rainsford don't care about how a prey feels. Later on in the story, Rainsford is forced to play a game,on which he is no longer the hunter but the prey. That's when he realizes how a prey must feel. And after winning the game it became General Zaroff's turn to become the new prey. That's an example of irony because the hunter Rainsford at first didn't care at the thought of how a prey feels but then ironically he was put in a prey's situation and then the same thing happened to General Zaroff.

There is irony in "The House that Slaves Built" by Gardiner Harris. And the irony is that The White House was built by African-Americans some were slaves others were free and for years it was consider a taboo to allow blacks inside The White House. And now Barack Obama and his family have moved inside The White House. This is an example of irony because African-Americans weren't invited inside The White House and if they were who ever invited them were criticized but now our President is Barack Obama and he comes from African descent.

After reading the article"Is it ironic that so many don't understand irony?" I agree that a lot of people get confused with the meaning of irony. I actually get confused myself but after writing this paper explaining irony and finding examples of irony in poems and stories. I have gotten to understand what is ironic and what is not. One example that is stated in this article is "Is it ironic that someone steps into a puddle and we make fun of them and the next thing you know, I step in one." I agree that this is irony because if someone falls into a puddle and we make fun of them, we are not expecting to also fall and then out of nowhere we fall into a puddle to. In this LINK, there are examples of irony and we get to vote if something is ironic or not. I voted that "if I have a phobia of longs words I have to tell people that I have Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia?" is ironic because if someone has a phobia of something that means they have a fear of that. So if someone has a phobia of long words it is ironic for them to say such a long word like hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. I also voted yes for irony in the example of "there is a song about the phobia of music?"because like I said earlier phobia is a fear so if there is a song about the phobia of music that is very ironic.

The cartoon is about an author who wrote a book popularity and no one showed up to his book signing. This is ironic because he wrote a book on popularity and he finds himself all alone clearly he isn't popular, so that is kind of ironic for someone to write about such topic.

The lyrics of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic," are ironic. One example of the lyrics that shows irony"An old man turned ninety-eight he won the lottery and died the next day." That is an example of irony because a man that was ninety-eight years old won the lottery, since he is already old there really isn't much he can do to enjoy the money he just won. But then he dies so the money he just won, wasn't spend by him. Another example of irony from the lyrics is "A traffic jam when you're already late." This is an example because that person was already running late before they got stuck in traffic and now there running extra late.

The social network video is an example of irony because the daughter is explaining how old people become more anti-social but her parents are actually very social. They go out and interact with others. On the other hand, she who is younger and has 687 friends on Facebook is actually more anti-social than her parents because she is at home doing nothing while her parents are out bike riding with their friends.

Irony is difficult to understand at first, I have to really study the definition of irony to understand what irony really is. Some people say unusual things and they start to infer that it is ironic. But in reality there is much more to irony I have to understand examples of irony and the definition as well. And also remember that there are three different types of irony which are verbal irony, dramatic irony and irony of situation. Now that I am aware of what irony is, I'm more aware of what is ironic in my life and what is not.