I R O N Y !

Irony  (YnorI)

If one looks up the definition of irony as a literary device, you will find:

Situational Irony – what is expected and what actually happens is different.

Verbal Irony – something someone says but it is not really true,

Dramatic Irony – something you (the reader) know is going to happen but character(s) in the book doesn’t know its’ going to happen. Another way of expressing this would be when the character expects events to take place in a particular way but the reader knows that isn’t likely to happen.

 Irony (in general) – a contrast between what is expected and what happens.

To a certain extent irony depends up a reader’s or a character’s common sense. If that element of wisdom is absent, then the irony will be missed. In Baggage burdens. Jill criticizes Kathy, her sister, for running away from home. She sees her sister’s action as leaving her and her mother more helpless. Jill labels her sister a coward. Undoubtedly Jill feels hurt. One would expect such insight would prevent her from taking a similar action. Ironically it doesn’t.

Running away from one who loves you would be the opposite action you might expect. Yet Jill does that several times. In Jill’s mind the only person who ever loved her unconditionally and helped her achieve her goals is Josey, her grandmother. On Labor Day when Josey is coming to visit, Jill is deeply troubled. Instead of seeking Josey’s support, she boards a train for Camrose without telling her grandmother. Jill hears that Dave loves her and wants to come and apologize for an indiscretion. Jill takes off before he arrives.

Irony, motivated by fear, presents itself again when Jill decides to leave her position at popular bakery/restaurant where everyone appreciates her. She chooses to marry a man she doesn’t love and live in an isolated, rural, conservative setting.

Bill visited Jill almost everyday that she was in the hospital. He offered to drive her home when she is released. Without saying anything to him, Jill takes a cab home. How could she be so insensitive? One might reason that Jill doesn’t know the hurt an individual can feel when they’re deserted. For her, that is not the case. After her husband left her, divorced her, she was devastated. Her pain was undeniable. Amber, Jill’s loving daughter, challenges Jill. “How can you possibly do that? Can’t you see that Bill loves you?”

Jill’s actions may come across as being self-centered. The reader would know that Jill wants to be a loving person, unlike her parents. Some of her decisions serve to create the opposite impression. Unreasonable? Yes. Her choices are based on  emotion––fear. Therein lives the purpose of the book’s irony––the power of fear is so strong that it overrides reason.

Can you recall when someone you know makes totally unexpected, unreasonable choices? At such times one might say, “God only knows.” While this may be true, one could also suspect an unknown thinking at work, an overriding emotion at work.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you . . .”  Jeremiah1:5 When it comes to creating characters, an author is like God. My next blog explores this concept, and its use in Baggage burdens.