Irony Essa Essay

447 Words2 Pages
"Flowers for Algernon", a short story by Daniel Keyes, presents many examples of verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. Charlie Gordon , the main character, presents these ironies through his journal entries. If the character, writer, or speaker states one thing in the form of writing, but the meaning is completely different, this is expressed as verbal irony. "I told them becaus all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb. But its very hard to be smart. They said you know it will probly be tempirery. I said yes. Miss Kinnian told me. I dont care if it herts." A quote from Charlie Gordon's journal entries, which is basically saying that he is stating that he understands by saying "yes", but what he is really thinking or meaning is that Charlie thinks the operation will "hert". This is the main reason why this is a clear example of verbal irony. Charlie was saying "yes" , as if he understood, but what he thought and what the doctors meant by "temporary" were two different things. If whatever happens in a form of literature is the opposite of what takes place, then the reader just experienced situational irony. "I've quit my job at Donnegan's Plastic Box Company." "....I knew of it when Mr. Donnegan showed me the petition." This would have been least expected from the reader for many reasons. He would believe that Charlie would have gotten a promotion or even a raise because Charlie had saved his manager, Mr. Donnegan, money, and he was also at work every day, unless he had surgery. After this gathered information, the reader would seem shocked after finding that Charlie lost his job. This event, like many others, was least expected. If the reader or audience knows something that a character or characters do not know, then this is a form of dramatic irony. "It's a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked me around all the time to make
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