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Irony
A perfect example of irony can be found in "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson. The reason "Richard Cory" is ironic is that all the townspeople saw Richard as a perfect individual."He was a gentleman from sole to crown" and he was also "rich yes, richer than a king" as Robinson described him in the poem. The irony,regardless of the perfect life,"one summer night he put a bullet in his head". The short story Gift of the Magi By: O'Henry is based on the story of a couple during Christmas time. Della which is the main character want to buy her husband Jim a gift but doesn't have enough money, so she cuts and sells her hair. With the money she buys Jim a platinum fob chain for his watch. The irony of the story happens when they are going to exchange gifts, Della brought Jim the fob chain for his watch but Jim sold the watch in order to buy Della the combs she had wanted. It is ironic because Della cut her hair and brought Jim a fob chain for the watch but Jim sold his watch to buy her the combs but she cut her hair so she cant use the combs. O'Henry uses irony in order to show how these two characters can sacrifice their most beloved possessions in the name of their love. In the article The House That Slaves Built the irony of the article is explained in the second paragraph which says "The White House was built by crews of black laborers—both slave and free. Today, more than 200 years later, Barack Obama's family making the White House their home is a powerful symbol of change for Americans of all races".It is ironic that a house that was built by African American slaves is now the house of an African-American.It is also ironic that in the past it was looked down on when previous white presidents would invite over an African-American person over for any purpose.Now we have and African-American president not over but living in the White House.  The Chicken Little cartoon is ironic because Chicken Little is famous for claiming that the sky is falling but in the cartoon the sky is indeed falling.Not literally the sky but the letters off the sign and they just happen to spell out "sky". Irony has many different definitions but the one that is most frequently used is "an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected". One example of irony as mentioned in "Gift of the Magi", how they both sacrificed their most precious possessions to get gift for each other but its ironic that the gifts where meant to compliment their possessions for Della it was the combs for her hair and for Jim the fob chain for his watch.The current events that are happening in Japan can also be seen as ironic because, 66 years ago the United States of America decided to drop its first atomic bomb "little boy" on Hiroshima a town in Japan.The United States dropped the atomic bomb after Japan attacked pearl harbor.Till this day Japan has been the only place to experience an atomic bomb.However its ironic that even after experiencing and seeing what an atomic bomb can do Japan 66 years later now uses atomic energy as its main source of power.
Johnny-Olivo@Hotmail.com
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What is irony? Some people may not be aware of what irony is but experience it on a
daily basis. Irony is when the outcome of a situation is opposite of what was expected. One specific situation being how
ironic it is that a person full of piercings and tattoos is afraid of sharp objects puncturing her skin. This is ironic
because all the piercings and tattoos are done by puncturing the skin with sharp objects.