Irony In The Open Window By Saki

“The world is made up of two classes - the hunters and the huntees.” In the short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ which was written by Richard Connell there are two main characters, Rainsford and General Zaroff. Rainsford thought that General Zaroff wanted to hunt with him when in all reality General Zaroff wanted to hunt him(Rainsford) himself. Richard Connell uses irony, theme and characterization to develop the plot and characters. The use of these literary devices suggests that Connell wanted to make the story more interesting and suspenseful so the reader can enjoy reading it.

The Holocaust was a horrific time period when over six million Jewish people were systematically exterminated by the Nazi government. Throughout this period, the Jews were treated particularly inhumane because the Nazi viewed their ethnicities as a disease to humanity. Dehumanization is a featured theme in Elie Wiesel’s novel about the Holocaust since he demonstrated numerous examples of the severe conditions endured by the Jewish people. The nonfiction story Night by Elie Wiesel focuses on inhumanity and reveals human beings are capable of committing great atrocities and behaving cruelly, when such actions are condoned by society, peer pressure, and ethical beliefs. Elie Wiesel uses literary devices to produce a consistent theme of inhumanity.

The Eye of the Sheep, written by Sophie Laguna is a strong example of how memorable texts can both disturb the reader as well as instil hope. The novel follows the story of the narrator Jimmy Flick, a young, unusual boy and his family. Laguna’s writing style and use of language throughout the text enables the reader to feel the pain and distress in Jimmy’s family without ever losing hope that things will work out. One of the ways in which she does this is through the use of Jimmy’s voice, as it allows the reader to feel the positive energy bubbling inside of Jimmy, while still witnessing the problems that Jimmy’s family have to deal with, such as his father’s drinking habits. Another way is the manner in which the characters are constructed. All the members of Jimmy’s family have multiple facets to them. They are all complex characters that have both light and darkness within them. Through these cleverly constructed characters, Laguna how even good people can do disturbing things. While reading the Eye of the Sheep, there have been multiple different perspectives that have enriched my own interpretation of this text, that again show different facets to the story.

“No luck. I gave up. From my bed, I stared at the jacket. I wanted to cry because it was so ugly and so big that I knew I’d have to wear it a long time.” Gary Soto says this because he wants to show how the little boy is ungrateful for what he got.

The main element used in the short story, “Saboteur” is irony. Throughout the story Mr. Chiu finds himself in many ironic situations. For example, When Mr. Chiu and his wife are having lunch, a policeman walks by and tosses a “bowl of tea in their direction” (288) and has the audacity to deny his actions and accuses Mr. Chiu

The story begins in a hotel placed in Italy where a “muddle” takes place over the switching of rooms for a view. In these first few pages the main character describes Mr. Emerson the man who had offered his room as having some childness aspect but “not the childishness of senility” (pg 4). The author in my eyes is trying to draw a connection to the character and his reformist views and tie childness into Mr.Emerson as his matching views are new and young. The two characters introduced hold a large role in being the authors symbols of the peaking liberal social class mostly relevant in Italy unlike the sober aged ideals displayed in Windy Corner, Lucy’s childhood home in England. Another display of this conflicting culturalism is shown by the support of Lucy, Charlotte, and others in Mrs. Lavish, who was a struggling italian author in pursuit of writing a new novel paralleled with Mrs.Honeychurch’s outburst over the misuse of a woman's time and place when hearing about the female writer. Mrs. Honeychurch

Lastly, throughout the story there are hints that Vera may be a trouble maker. In paragraph eight, Vera shows some interest that Franton doesn’t know anyone or anything about the people in that town. As soon as Vera finds out that he knows nothing, she begins to create the story of the open window. Also, in paragraph sixteen, Vera’s aunt says, “I hope Vera has been amusing you?”, so this also gives a hint that she might be up to something. This is an example of dramatic irony, because the reader knows about the window and Franton does not.

But, for the first time, her daughter stares into her eyes, and her response is astounding as well as startling, considering her age. She says, “Mommy, there's a world in your eye. Mommy, where did you get that world in your eye?", and for the first time since the beginning of the piece, we experience Alice’s confidence once again (6). She realizes her self-worth, and that it is not determined by her appearance, she says, “Yes indeed, I realized, looking into the mirror. There was a world in my eye” and although she went through a good portion of her life believing that she wasn’t beautiful, or sufficient, it was all worth it because it taught her to love herself even more now (6). To end the piece, she illustrates a dream she had: it’s her old self-doubting self and another her, confident and radiating, coming together. She is once again able to speak of herself in a positive way, she states that the latter self is “beautiful, whole, and free. And she is also [her]”, which, in a way, exhibits that same attitude she had as a two-year-old (6). Twenty-seven-year-old Alice completely contradicts twelve-year-old Alice, who would “abuse [her] eye” and who did “not pray for sight” but “for beauty” (4); she now speaks of herself

We hear of her moving to New York to escape her life as a child bride after being orphaned at a young age. This story allows the audience to gain a sense of sympathy for Holly, and enhances the pathos of the story. This pathos puts the audience into the shoes of Holly and enables them to understand the reasoning behind her escape. The use of language features like pathos and literary allusion allow the authors of both texts to convey the theme of escapism.

Stephen then begins to define his own personal beliefs and how he thinks it is like to live his life as a man. Because of Leka, Stephen is no longer fearful of accepting the beauty the world has within and Stephens thoughts are now in a whole new light.

Kate Chopin uses irony in her stories to show true emotion. It is also used to show feelings as well. Throughout her short story "The Storm," several examples of irony come forth, whether it be verbal, situational, or dramatic, it aids us to stay focused on the story by keeping it interesting.

In “Like the Sun” and “The Open Window” there are many uses of irony and/or paradox examples. Some may be, Sekhar from “Like the Sun” decides to tell nothing but the truth for a whole day and it ends up biting him in the butt. His wife is angry with him because he told the truth about how her food tasted, his boss is making him grade a hundred test papers in one night because Sekhar told him that “he played his alapana terribly”, and also at work, his colleague thinks he is a terrible person for saying that he thought a dead man was a “mean and selfish brute”. I think that Narayan uses these three examples because he wants to show how the Truth affects people in all different places: at his work, home, and at a friends home. Saki also shows

Once Upon a Social Issue Fairy tales have always been told to us as children; whether to comfort or entertain us, they always seem to be a part of everyone’s childhood. “Once Upon A Time”, the title is a characteristic of a fairy tale, but she leads the story to an ending that is anything other than “happily ever after” (Gordimer 12). Although Nadine Gordimer’s title is typical in a fairy tale in the story “One upon a time”, the story she writes is anything but typical. Instead of dealing with characteristics and synonymous with fairy tales, the author uses irony to reflect the idea of humans

One of the most commonly used literary devices among authors, irony generates a connection between the reader and the fictional world. Irony is generally used in a mocking manner in which the user makes a sarcastic statement, such as: “Nice going!” when failure appears obvious. Occasionally the contrasts appear clear-cut, often times not. In Chaim Potok’s The Chosen irony lingers in the background, waiting to make its appearance.

Cynthia Ozick is an American-Jewish short story writer, novelist, and essayist. Her essays are full of stories and beautiful vocabularies. “Ozick brings to her writing of essays an intense concern with the verbal and narrative art of literary of nonfiction.” (561, Klaus) She believes that essay like other kinds of writing is a fiction; therefore, her writing contains lots of stories, and most of the stories are rooted in her own personal experience. Her writing is a combination of narrative language and good metaphors. The author uses metaphor commonly in her essays and another level into the essay. These two elements can be easily recognized in her essays, “The Shock of Teapots” and “The Seam of the Snail”.