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Examples Of Irony In The Chaser

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The Chaser - Folly in the Pursuit of Love When you love someone, how far will you go in order to pursue them? In John Collier’s short story The Chaser, we witness a young man by the name of Alan Austen go to a mysterious old man in hopes of buying a strange love potion, desperate to win over a girl he likes. However, we soon find that this decision may go awry. The Chaser is a cautionary tale against impulsiveness, advising that you must think thoroughly before making any decision. This is demonstrated through Collier’s effective use of characterization, foreshadowing, and irony. In The Chaser, Alan Austen and the old man creates an interesting contrast between the recklessness of youth and jaded old age, further supporting the theme of …show more content…

One of the many examples of irony in The Chaser is the title itself. In alcoholic terms, a chaser typically refers to a drink taken after another drink. In this case it refers to the likelihood of Alan going back to the old man to buy the life-cleaning potion. Another is the incredibly disparity in prices between the two potions; “‘That is five thousand dollars, never a penny less. One has to be older than you are, to indulge in that sort of thing. One has to save up for it.’ ‘But the love potion?’ said Alan. ‘Oh, that,’ said the old man, opening the drawer in the kitchen table, and taking out a tiny, rather dirty looking phial. ‘That is just a dollar’”. Although Alan is quite glad to hear the love potion is cheap, made clear when he says “‘I can't tell you how grateful I am,’ said Alan”, the old man (and eventually reader) knows that Alan will end up being far from grateful in the near future, a prime example of dramatic irony. The old man also describes the effects of the love potion during the story, in which he mentions “How carefully she will look after you! She will never allow you to be tired, to sit in a draught, to neglect your food”. These effects initially sound very pleasant to Alan, but the old man is aware Alan will grow tired of this, just like many of his previous

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Much to their surprise, though, it was later learned that the bottle with the horrid design was Mr. Abbott’s only chance of survival. He was an extremely frail man due to a skiing incident that occurred a year prior; consequently, he needed the substance in the bottle, his medicine, to sustain his life. This outcome opposed the men’s original belief, supporting the existence of situational irony in the story. Although Mrs. Abbott loved her husband dearly, she wished to release him from his pronounced misery.

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There are many different types of stories out there, some which consist of love and others loss. Many people seem to think it is important to have sappy love in every good story. They think this because they have a lack of patience in plot building and need a certain amount drama to keep them entertained. However, it is possible to have a great story without any of that fluff. O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” takes a different approach in a good story by introducing a slew of crazy irony.

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Edward Field’s “Icarus” expands on the theological myth of Daedalus and Icarus, but in a decidedly contemporary way. The author cleverly utilizes irony, diction, and the setting to show how our “hero” adapts to his catastrophic failures and acclimates to a 20th century life. Icarus is contrasted with his mythological past when the speaker highlights what originally happened before he so abruptly existed in the common economy of the second millennium. He employs, “Only the feathers floating around the hat showed that anything more spectacular had occurred”. The irony here portrays how apathetic society is towards other’s struggles.

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In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien describes how soldiers physically and emotionally adapted to Vietnam. In the chapters “The Dentist” and “Stockings,” he uses irony to accentuate these adaptations, in order to illustrate that for those who fought in the war coping was as essential as surviving. In “The Dentist,” Curt Lemon’s desire to be perceived as strong highlights his burrowed uncertainty of his courage.

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Throughout history, irony has been used in a multitude of ways. It is not just a way to inject humor into a story, but a way to slip a message in without saying it flat out. By doing that, it allows the reader to take in the information, and possibly come to the conclusion that the author wanted them to. This way, though, it does not seem like something forced upon them. Authors who used this tactic were Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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History would be made by a woman named Sarah Breedlove who would soon be known as Madame CJ Walker. Madame CJ Walker was born Sarah Breedlove or On December 23, 1867. Sarah Breedlove was born to Minerva and Owen Breedlove in Delta, Louisiana and was the youngest girl out of six children. She had one sister and four brothers. Between the age of six and seven Sarah became an orphan because her parents had passed away from yellow fever.

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Irony is defined as the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite. In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” there are several examples of irony. In fact, the title itself is ironic in that so many unexpected accounts happen in the life of Louise Mallard in the small amount of sixty minutes. Irony usually contains an incongruity. Therefore, the most conspicuous example of situational irony is in when Bently Mallard was believed to be dead and Louise Mallard had come alive with life.

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Saving the Modern World: One Satire at a Time There are so many problems that the world faces today, some more urgent than others. Some individuals choose to focus on the newest fashion style or celebrity breakup rather than focus on one that could bring about the doom of a nation. The use of satire in great literary works, television entertainment, and comics is an effective way to enlighten the world on the difficulties it faces.

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A Twist! What makes a good story worth reading, some will say it’s the plots and twists that make it exciting to read. In the stories “Everyday Use”, “Cask of Amontillado” and “A rose for Emily” different styles of irony including verbal, dramatic and situational irony are used to do just that. Dramatic irony in a story occurs when the audience knows something that the characters do not.

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This is the opening line of Pride and Prejudice; a romance novel written by Jane Austen and published on the 28th of January 1813 by an anonymous author – the same pseudonymous that she had previously used to publish Sense and Sensibility -. Jane Austen was born in 1775 in England (Stevenson, Hampshire) and it is thought that by the age of 16 had already written many different novels, even though it was not until 1811 when she was able to publish her first novel. The novel brings up many relevant topics that reflect the British life and customs characteristic of the eighteenth century. Austen makes a critic on these topics in a subtle -almost unnoticeable- way, the characters personify the British old-fashioned values that the author rejects, giving the reader freedom to judge the situation, while guiding them to

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Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is a very interesting take on how the Irish government should cure the famine that the country was then facing. However, the entire proposal was completely bizarre, and the whole point of the essay was to bring attention to the idea that they needed a solution to the all the problems they were experiencing but the proposal was definitely not it. He even had a strongly developed plan as to how his proposal would work which makes the reader feel as if he is serious about selling children, eating them, and/or using their skins as a fashion accessory; however, ultimately this proposal is not his true goal. Jonathon Swift skillfully used different styles of writing, such as imagery and irony, to show why the Irish should sell their children to the rich to eat.

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Change can be good, both for a spunky young runner and a couple of bedraggled kidnappers. These characters feature vividly in Toni Cade Bambara’s “Raymond’s Run” and O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Redchief”. The two short stories share a common author’s purpose, as well as similar and powerful themes. However, the two writers utilize disparate techniques to convey these narrative elements.

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When people are asked when they decided to choose their career, the typical answer is that they have known they wanted to be in that career field since they were little kids. In Lorrie Moore’s short story, How to Become a Writer, she is able to bring . By using irony and having a humorous, yet mocking tone, Moore is able to tell the readers that the journey to becoming a writer is not easy and does not come naturally. In the beginning of the story, the readers are able to pick up Moore’s humorous and slightly mocking tone which helps the story become relatable because almost everyone has had a person make fun of their career choice.

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