Irony is used in the stories “Sorry, Right Number” by Stephen King and “Back There” by Rod Serling. Verbal irony uses sarcasm to hide how the character actually feels, while situational irony is what is the opposite of what is expected from that situation. Irony is needed in both of these stories because it builds suspense, makes the desire of the reader to keep reading, and making the overall story more enjoyable.
In King’s “Sorry, Right Number”, he uses verbal irony through the stage directions in Act 1 where Connie asks Dennis “Do you think Aunt Dawn’s okay?” Dennis replies with sarcasm as revealed in the stage direction (he thinks she’s dead, decapitated by a maniac) “Yeah. Sure she is.” This is verbal irony because clearly Dennis is …show more content…
While King showed us verbal irony through the stage directions, Serling shows us verbal irony through the dialogue between the characters. For example, in Act 2 Scene 1 it states, “Corrigan. President Lincoln will be shot! Tonight. In the theater. A man named Booth. Captain. And how would you be knowin’ this? I suppose you’re clairvoyant or something. Some kind of seer or wizard or something.” The verbal irony of this dialogue is the police captain didn’t actually believe Corrigan’s “hypothesis” that the president will be assassinated. We know this because the police captain listed synonyms of seemingly impossible things as of why Corrigan knew these things. Similarly to King’s piece we need this verbal irony in this dialect to let us know how much the captain actually believes Corrigan. Also, this builds suspense and makes the reader keep reading to find out what going to happen to Corrigan at the prison. If this verbal irony was excluded from the story, it would make the story less entertaining. The story would less entertaining because if the police captain was more open the plot would’ve changed for the worst, Corrigan would have stopped Booth, Lincoln would have been saved, the …show more content…
“Yes. Someone in my family. Someone very close. Me.” This is situational irony because at the very beginning the reader is lead to believe that something sinister happened to one of her family members, not including herself. At the end of the short story, she realizes she called herself and cannot change what happened to Bill. Situational is included because the opposite of what is expected is not what actually happens. Situational irony is needed within the passage because the irony builds suspense and makes the reader curious to find out who made the mysterious phone call. The irony is needed because without it the story wouldn’t be as jaw dropping due to the reader finding out who made that mysterious phone
In King’s “Sorry, Right Number”, he uses verbal irony through the stage directions in Act 1 where Connie asks Dennis “Do you think Aunt Dawn’s okay?” Dennis replies with sarcasm as revealed in the stage direction (he thinks she’s dead, decapitated by a maniac) “Yeah. Sure she is.” This is verbal irony because clearly Dennis is …show more content…
While King showed us verbal irony through the stage directions, Serling shows us verbal irony through the dialogue between the characters. For example, in Act 2 Scene 1 it states, “Corrigan. President Lincoln will be shot! Tonight. In the theater. A man named Booth. Captain. And how would you be knowin’ this? I suppose you’re clairvoyant or something. Some kind of seer or wizard or something.” The verbal irony of this dialogue is the police captain didn’t actually believe Corrigan’s “hypothesis” that the president will be assassinated. We know this because the police captain listed synonyms of seemingly impossible things as of why Corrigan knew these things. Similarly to King’s piece we need this verbal irony in this dialect to let us know how much the captain actually believes Corrigan. Also, this builds suspense and makes the reader keep reading to find out what going to happen to Corrigan at the prison. If this verbal irony was excluded from the story, it would make the story less entertaining. The story would less entertaining because if the police captain was more open the plot would’ve changed for the worst, Corrigan would have stopped Booth, Lincoln would have been saved, the …show more content…
“Yes. Someone in my family. Someone very close. Me.” This is situational irony because at the very beginning the reader is lead to believe that something sinister happened to one of her family members, not including herself. At the end of the short story, she realizes she called herself and cannot change what happened to Bill. Situational is included because the opposite of what is expected is not what actually happens. Situational irony is needed within the passage because the irony builds suspense and makes the reader curious to find out who made the mysterious phone call. The irony is needed because without it the story wouldn’t be as jaw dropping due to the reader finding out who made that mysterious phone