Joseph Hasley's Use Of Dramatic Irony In Wintergreen

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In continuation, a few of the colonels and generals partaking in telephone portrays the childish behaviors of the high ranking officials. The comedy of the situation emerges once the message travels to Wintergreen. The art of the scene’s satirical success credits to the short dialogue between the characters. The variant diction described as creative and entertaining, and adds to the imagery of the scene (Hasley 173). The word choice allows the tone of the novel and the confusion on the face of each character to become apparent. Through this scene, irony emphasizes the ignorance pertaining to the characters, since these characters establish themselves as the foolish, even though they possess the largest amount of power. Critic Joseph Epstein states, “It held that, in mad, impersonal killing of modern warfare, heroism was a joke…” (174). …show more content…

Also the word choice in this scene shows the lack of intelligence behind those who possess the highest honor in the novel as simplistic diction repeats itself. The scene disproves the common stereotype that those ranked high in the military also contain the traits of intelligence, courage, and strength. Children in elementary school play the game of telephone, but apparently military leaders fall into child-like mannerisms. The generals compare to elementary children since most of the characters lack proper grammar and formal language further proving the comparison since someone with high rank fails to use formal language. The satire behind word choice in this scene revolves around the dimwitted war leaders that focus on items of little importance rather than the impending crisis war as shown through their