Irony In Peter Abrahams's Delusion

As its title clearly indicates, Peter Abrahams’ novel Delusion explores the idea of a life lived as a delusion. In this novel, there are numerous ways literary devices have been used effectively in order to make it more appealing to readers. One of these literary elements is irony, which was used effectively to add more depth to characters, and add layers to the main plot. Pathetic fallacy also plays a big role in the story in developing the main story as nature played a lead role, and corresponded directly with the events portrayed in the novel. Blending particularly well with the other literary elements, flashback played a key role in establishing the suspense, and giving the reader a unique point of view. These literary devices such as …show more content…
A hurricane, Bernardine, has swept through Belle Ville, leaving carnage and disrupting lives. As the physical damage to the city has been mainly confined to the Lower Side, racial tension becomes a dark undertone to the story’s outcome. Repairs in this area of the city are neglected until the mayor is forced to look past the delusion that everything is being cleaned up in an appropriate way. Racial problems become more of a focus when the evidence that should have exonerated DuPree twenty years earlier has been found in the locker of a dead African American police officer who served as Clay Jarreau’s partner when Blanton was murdered. Doubt rises about whether this officer’s death, as he was saving a child after the hurricane, was accidental, causing an inquiry into whether he was murdered for the evidence he held. This man’s years of exemplary public service are challenged merely because of his race. Beyond racial tension, political intrigue becomes a possible motivation in the murder. Kirk Bastien has been elected to the office of mayor, despite some troubling issues. He is a partner in a construction company that stands to profit mightily from the hurricane damage and that stood to profit twenty years earlier by the death of a brilliant geology graduate student who had questioned the safety factor of a major project. …show more content…
As Nell remembers Blanton’s murder, she struggles with her identification of DuPree as the murderer. Striving to understand how she might have accused the wrong man, she seeks out the help of a hypnotist and of a professor who is an expert on the issue of eyewitness testimony. Learning that police officers can mislead witnesses with subtle gestures, she questions Clay’s pursuit of DuPree as the killer and starts to suspect her husband is the murderer. As the plot unravels, the strong belief in the legal system is undermined as delusional. Abrahams does a great job in utilizing flashbacks that occur in different areas of the novel, this intrigues the reader to see the novel on different