Lesson Topic 4: Interesting Irony and Extra Elements

What is Irony?

text annotation indicator An ironic phone booth: Signage on the phone booth says "Coins," but also says "Coins Not Accepted Here." Many different types of irony occur in literature. Irony can help create the mood of a story and reveal the humor or suspense in a certain situation.

The Types of Irony

Verbal irony: Verbal irony occurs when a character says one thing but means something else. This type of irony is also known as sarcasm. For example, a parent might reveal verbal irony, or sarcasm, by showing up at the door of an extremely messy room and commenting, "I've never seen your room this clean before! You are grounded." Clearly, the parent revealed sarcasm when commenting about the cleanliness of the room.
Situational irony: Situational irony happens when something happens that the reader does not expect to happen. For example, if someone robs a thief in a story, that portrays situational irony. Readers would not expect a thief who robs others to be the one who gets robbed.
Dramatic irony: Dramatic irony appears when the readers know something the character does not know. For example, in scary stories, the reader often knows where the bad guy hides, but the character does not. As the character approaches the hiding spot, the readers may experience heightened suspense due to the dramatic irony.

Practicing with Irony

Match the situation below with the type of irony being revealed.

Applying Irony

Have you picked up on any irony in the short story you chose? Have you seen any irony in The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963? If you have, write these down in order to practice identifying irony.

Other Important Elements

Other important literary elements appear in various literary texts to create the meat of the story. For example, dialogue, or conversation between or among characters, might aid in revealing any conflicts that occur within a story. The conflicts might set the tone of the text. Remember that the tone is the author's voice. When trying to describe the tone, think of how you would explain someone's voice if they see that you have taken something from them. What would they sound like? Those would be "tone" words. Now, try to remember the types of conflicts discussed in the first module:

Man v. man: An external conflict where a character has an argument, disagreement, struggle, or other type of problem with another character.
Man v. nature: An external conflict where a character has a problem with outside forces in nature such as weather, animals, and land.
Man v. society: An external conflict where a character encounters a struggle with the laws or beliefs of a group.
Man v. self: An internal conflict where the character struggles to decide what to do or think.

Occasionally, an author might write in dialect. Dialect is a certain form of a language or accent that is peculiar to a specific region or social group. If you have heard someone talk from the southern United States, they might speak in a southern dialect. Dialect might help reveal the setting, or the time and place, of a story or just provide information about where a character might be from.

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