Irony

If writing was baseball then Irony would certainly be the curve ball, giving unexpectedly and with a sudden change of direction. Thrown into a piece of work to keep the reader on their toes, irony stops the expected from happening and allows the unanticipated to grab the attention of the reader and invites them “to dig through layers of possible meaning.” Irony is taking the reader’s expectations and upending them, making them work against the reader. In Chapter 26, Is He Serious? And Other Ironies Foster clues how to piece irony together and how it goes against everything else a reader has learned about reading. Irony can be “comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes wry, or perplexing,” admitting for a multitude of possibilities to arise from within it almost working as a grab bag. Irony works in literature because the audience is able to understand something that is eludes the character. Foster’s example of a guy wrecking into a sign, his seat belt saving his life only to turn into to an object that causes his death a few moments later amplifies this concept of irony. “The Onion” is a paper from Ohio where irony is a full time job. It applies irony to modern day problems to amplify their wrongs. However irony isn’t just a innovative idea its existents has been around since the beginning of literature. It exist is apparent in Shakespeare for example Romeo and Juliet. The readers know that Juliet is only in a deep sleep and will awaken however Romeo seems to find his beloved Juliet died. Drinking poison Romeo ironically kills himself to be with Juliet in the afterlife. When Juliet awakens she finds Romeo died and then kills herself. The ending is catastrophic and ironic due to the fact that the reader knows more than the characters.