In the Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness, the irony is used throughout the book to get deeper meanings across. Toews’s even uses dark and adolescent humor to not only to show the gap between reality and the ideal but also to bridge that gap. An example of this ironically laced humor would be Nomi explaining what there is to do in East Village ‘”Golf was another one because it consisted of using a rod to hit something much, much smaller than yourself and a lot of men in this town enjoyed that sort of thing.”’ (39) Nomi throws a subtle jab at the men in the community who abuse their status over the weaker. It gives the reader an insight to how the world is portrayed by the characters. The irony also provides a way for the reader to connect
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“‘Our eyes met and seemed to fuse, briefly, and then he left.’“ (237.) This is Ray leaving Nomi, he realizes leaving Nomi on her own is the best thing he can do because she would never leave him, but she needs to start to start a new chapter in her life. In his note, he even encourages her to leave which is what makes Nomi’s attempts to stay so ironic to the outcome. “‘And remember, when you are leaving, to brush the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.’” (240) Ray is in a subtle way telling his daughter to leave East Village. Nomi is told she’ll understand misery when she’s older when she already knows it well from a young age. Even her neighbor states this. “’My neighbor said he’d just eaten two of her bath beads that she’d been saving for her anniversary night. That’s too bad, I said. My neighbor told me to just wait until I have kids. And then what? I asked. Well, then you’ll know true misery, she said. Oh then?”’ (242.) Nomi is already trying to cope with the misery of her sister and mother’s departure. This is arguably one of the key ironies in Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness. The community overlooks Nomi’s mental and emotional struggling. She later turns to substances as …show more content…
Having the two versions the real and the ideal. “’You’re in or you’re out. You’re good or you’re bad. Actually, very good or very bad. Or very good at being very bad without being detected.’” (10) This shows there no in between, there is only one extreme or the next. Two characters that would represent these extremes would be Hans (The Mouth.) and Trudie. With Nomi’s adolescent humor Toews’ is able to lift the veil between the two. This is things that Nomi says and does like referring to her uncle as The Mouth and telling Hans to ask her father himself how he is rather than asking her. We see duality throughout the novel, the town, from Nomi’s actions with coping to Trudie’s depiction by her family. “’ Which Trudie he loved the best, the docile church basement lady in the moon boots or the rebellious chick with the sexy lingerie.’” (10) East Village is depicted, as a model Mennonite community when in reality it is an oppressed and dysfunctional community. The community made Trudie out to be a mad woman when actually she was more likely to be severely depressed. Tourists would come to see the historical replica and the town’s people would go and watch demolition derbies This shows the drastic contrast with an added touch of humor. The reader is able to empathize and connect with the ironic elements and the dualities of this community. Ray’s leaving, Nomi’s late introduction to misery and the duality of East
“‘Our eyes met and seemed to fuse, briefly, and then he left.’“ (237.) This is Ray leaving Nomi, he realizes leaving Nomi on her own is the best thing he can do because she would never leave him, but she needs to start to start a new chapter in her life. In his note, he even encourages her to leave which is what makes Nomi’s attempts to stay so ironic to the outcome. “‘And remember, when you are leaving, to brush the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.’” (240) Ray is in a subtle way telling his daughter to leave East Village. Nomi is told she’ll understand misery when she’s older when she already knows it well from a young age. Even her neighbor states this. “’My neighbor said he’d just eaten two of her bath beads that she’d been saving for her anniversary night. That’s too bad, I said. My neighbor told me to just wait until I have kids. And then what? I asked. Well, then you’ll know true misery, she said. Oh then?”’ (242.) Nomi is already trying to cope with the misery of her sister and mother’s departure. This is arguably one of the key ironies in Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness. The community overlooks Nomi’s mental and emotional struggling. She later turns to substances as …show more content…
Having the two versions the real and the ideal. “’You’re in or you’re out. You’re good or you’re bad. Actually, very good or very bad. Or very good at being very bad without being detected.’” (10) This shows there no in between, there is only one extreme or the next. Two characters that would represent these extremes would be Hans (The Mouth.) and Trudie. With Nomi’s adolescent humor Toews’ is able to lift the veil between the two. This is things that Nomi says and does like referring to her uncle as The Mouth and telling Hans to ask her father himself how he is rather than asking her. We see duality throughout the novel, the town, from Nomi’s actions with coping to Trudie’s depiction by her family. “’ Which Trudie he loved the best, the docile church basement lady in the moon boots or the rebellious chick with the sexy lingerie.’” (10) East Village is depicted, as a model Mennonite community when in reality it is an oppressed and dysfunctional community. The community made Trudie out to be a mad woman when actually she was more likely to be severely depressed. Tourists would come to see the historical replica and the town’s people would go and watch demolition derbies This shows the drastic contrast with an added touch of humor. The reader is able to empathize and connect with the ironic elements and the dualities of this community. Ray’s leaving, Nomi’s late introduction to misery and the duality of East