The short story “Harrison Bergeron” contains quite a bit of irony. In this particular period of time, all people are required to be the equal physically and mentally. If they are superior to other people, they will be forced to wear handicaps in order reduce their capabilities to make them like other normal people. The story contains examples of situational, verbal and dramatic irony. Situational irony occurs when there is a situation which appears to have an assumed conclusion, but then something ironic happens and the end result is different than what was expected. Harrison, the unique son of George and Hazel, is a tall, strong man who is attempting to overthrow the government. He manages to break out of jail and takes control of the television station, declaring himself the Emperor. Just as it appears that he is going to succeed in his takeover, the Handicapper General came into the studio. ”She fired twice, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.” This is not the expected outcome and creates irony in this situation. …show more content…
George has just experienced a sharp noise from the mental handicap radio in his ear. It sounded to him like a twenty-one gun salute. He winces from the sound. Hazel has just finished saying that she wishes she could hear all the sounds as they would be interesting. “Gee - I could tell that one was a doozy,” said Hazel. “You can say that again,” said George. “Gee-”said Hazel, “I could tell that one was a doozy.” Hazel is enforcing the fact that she is of average intelligence, both by wanting to hear the sounds that are obviously causing her husband a lot of pain as well as by not understanding his sarcastic comment and, instead, innocently repeats her
At first, the reader could think that this average intelligence means that these people would have basic comprehension skills, but readers are almost immediately putt off rom George and Hazel’s short term memory, “Hazel had perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn’t think about anything except in short bursts…” (1) This along with the explanation of George’s mind being limited from a government transmitter as well as seeing ballerinas handicapped by weights and masks on the TV show the reader that this society is being psychologically dominated by its leaders. Vonnegut does not exactly state this theme, however through the use of selected details of the character’s lives, the oppression of individuality is
Kurt Vonnegut crafts the dystopian message of equality within Harrison Bergeron through the use of ironic and absurd language. Beginning in the first lines of the story, it jumps right in with, “The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal,” (Vonnegut,34). He seems to emphasize on the irony of equality by drawing attention to the word “finally”. It’s quite peculiar or absurd how things would be if everyone was equal and that’s what Vonnegut proves in multiple points in the story such as, “Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantages of their brains,” (34). This man named George is very intelligent but in order to be equal with everyone else his intelligence is
In the short story “Harrison Bergeron” there are many thought-provoking themes including individuality, the media’s effects on society and equality. No one in this dystopian society was allowed to be themselves. Any differences, which made characters superior to the rest in the community, were hindered by handicaps. People like Harrison and his father George had to wear these handicaps because they were too attractive, strong, fast or smart. Almost all individuality was taken away as no one was aloud to think differently then the rest; those who tried were quickly sent an unbearable noise to the ear; made to stop their mind from expanding and pondering around. Many of the citizens feared being more than normal. At the first sight of defiance
Ever heard of someone being excited to get kidnapped? Or someone who wanted more, but ended up with less? In the story “The Ransom Of Red Chief,” O. Henry uses situational irony to show funny humor for the boy who loves being kidnaped. It got to the point where they had to pay to have the kid leave. In the story “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant uses situational irony to show pity for mathilde. Mathilde wanted so much but ended up with so little. Authors use situational Irony to make the reader feel different emotions.
One of the many negatives shown are the buzzers in the ears of some handicaps. Some handicaps, like George, have to wear earbuds in their ears to keep them from thinking too hard on things. There are sounds
In “The Ransom of Red Chief”, by O.Henry, situational irony is used to create a sense of comedy in the story. O.Henry first uses situational irony throughout the story. Typically, kids who get kidnapped in general are terrified and don’t really enjoy it, yet, Johnny(also known as red chief) enjoys the fact of being kidnapped. O. Henry proves this when Sam, the kidnapper, says to Johnny, “‘I’ll take you straight home. Now. are you going to be good or not” (45)? Usually, kidnappers threaten the kids they have napped by telling them they are not going home. Another example of situational irony is when the kidnappers themselves pay a ransom for the family to take Johnny back instead of it being the other way around. Once it has been about two days
Situational irony is defined as something happening that was the opposite of what was expected. “The Lottery” uses situational irony for the entire plot of the story. In the beginning of the story, families are gathering in the town square to draw names for a lottery. The setting is a very nice summer
Situational irony consists of situations, actions, and events that sharply contradict what is expected or what should occur logically. These sharp contrasts allow the reader pay more attention to certain characters, events, and situations than they normally would. In this type of irony, the reader and the characters often are both aware of the illogical way in which events play out. Within Lord of the Flies, the reader can identify multiple uses of situational irony which help to further their understanding of the novel.
One of the early examples of situational irony is when Mathilde started to cry when she gets her invitation. Mathilde is slightly poor and is always complaining about what she has. You would think by the way she complains all the time she would be ecstatic, but instead, she cries because she doesn’t want to go. This is an example of situational irony because you expect her to be happy and excited but instead, she is sad, and situational irony is when you expect something to happen and then the opposite happens.
An example of irony from “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates situational irony. Situational irony occurs when the opposite of what you think is supposed to happen. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of the joy that kills.” when your reading you think that she will have a long life after her husband dies but when you find out that he is still alive she suddenly dies of heart disease . In the story “The Machine
Situational irony is when something in the story happens that was expected to go another way. It can be used to shock the when it happens and the reader had no idea it was going to.One example of this is when she is happy to find out her husband had died. The reader should have expected to have her be sad. It was also used when we find out that Mr. Mallard is alive, rather than dead, and Mrs. Mallard dies instead of rejoicing. This irony is important to the story because it progress the plot in an unexpected way. It pulls the reader in
There re several types of irony like situational irony. Irony is when appearances are different from reality. Situational one is when an event occurs in a different way that what was anticipated or hope for. Verbal is using language to express the gap between appearance and reality.
An example of situational irony would be when the townspeople are trying to find out who the father of Pearl is and all of a sudden it becomes known to the reader that the father is Arthur Dimmesdale. Hawthorne tells the reader this after we are introduced to the antagonist and estranged husband of Hester, Roger Chillingworth. The readers awareness of Arthur being the father of Pearl is also dramatic irony because Roger does not know. Arthur says Pearl is the child of her “father’s guilt and [her] mother’s shame…” which is ironic because he is the father and he knows he is guilty.(100) The fact that the Scarlet A is always being described as “beautiful” and fantastic is very ironic because it is a representation of sin and
Another form of situational irony is dramatic irony. The dramatic irony is a literary device. In the dramatic irony the audience knows the character better than the character. Because narrator proves more information to readers about the character but the character does not know. It implies that the words in the narrative have significant meaning for the reader than for the
Scattered throughout the story are several examples of situational irony. Situational irony, “involves a discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. Situational irony occurs when the exact opposite of what is meant to happen, happens” (Pandya). One example of situational irony occurs after Richards tells Mrs. Mallard the news of Mr. Mallard’s death; she walks upstairs to her room to be alone. Although the reader expects Mrs. Mallard to grieve more, she does not.