UNIT 7 FIGURES OF SPEECH-2

Structure

7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Irony
7.2.1 The Irony of Situation
7.2.2 Ironic Contrast
7.2.3 Irony in Satire
7.3 Paradox
7.4 Antithesis
7.5 Let Us Sum Up
7.6 Key Words
7.7 Suggested Reading
Answers

7.0 OBJECTIVES

In this unit, we are going to study some other literary devices as we have done in the
previous unit. After completing the unit, you should be able to understand the following
literary devices:

• Irony,
• Satire,
• Paradox, and
• Antithesis.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

In the last unit, we discussed some figures of speech like simile, metaphor, etc., used as
literary devices. We shall now take up some other devices like

i) irony, in which the intended meaning is the opposite of, or at least in sharp
contrast to, the literal meaning,

ii) satire, which ridicules vice or folly, or attacks an individual with some kind of
non-literal use of language,

iii) paradox, which makes use of contradictory or incompatible elements, and

iv) antithesis, which uses a contrast of ideas.

7.2 IRONY
Irony consists in using words which are opposite to one's meaning. For example, if you
say 'What a good friend you are!' when you mean just the opposite, you are using the
device of irony. This is the most commonly used kind of irony.

Example 1

"Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in vexing
me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves.”

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Literary Devices "You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old
friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at
least."

" Ah! You do not know what I suffer. "

(From Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice,

chapter I)

In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet form an odd couple owing to their
different temperaments. Mr. Bennet is serious and objective and has a mature
understanding. Mrs. Bennet is uninformed, 'of mean understanding', and 'nervous
when discontented.' Her main concern in life is to get her daughters married. She asks
her husband to invite Mr. Bingley, a rich young bachelor who has settled down in
their neighborhood. Mr. Bennet remarks that he does not consider any of their
daughters, except Lizzy, worthy of being recommended to that gentleman. At this
remark Mrs. Bennet flares up saying that he 'abuses‟ his own children and takes
pleasure in annoying her, and that he does not care for her nerves and how they will
be affected by his remarks. Mr. Bennet replies that he has been trying to be patient
with her for the last twenty years. Mrs. Bennet, however, knows that Mr. Bennet's
attitude is in fact just the opposite of what he has said. This is an example of verbal
irony.

The following passage is another example of irony where the reader knows what was
meant, but the character does not.

Example 2

“Permit me to say, Madam, that as I never yet have had the pleasure of seeing Miss
Languish, my principal inducement in this affair at present is the honor of being
allied to Mrs. Malaprop, of whose intellectual accomplishments, elegant manners,
and unaffected learning no tongue is silent.”

(From Sheridan: The Rivals, Act III, Scene III)

Note that Captain Absolute has been meeting Lydia Languish, of which the reader of
the book is aware, and that he is playing to the vanity of Mrs. Malaprop, who wants
to be admired for her fine vocabulary. In reality he is fooling her. The irony is that the
reader understands the situation but Mrs. Malaprop does not.

7.2.1 The Irony of Situation

Another type of irony is that of situation, in which the true meaning of a set of
circumstances is not revealed until the outcome of the circumstances is seen; then a
contradiction in the outcome is the result. The situation may seem to be developing to
its logical conclusion, yet almost at the end it takes an opposite turn. This unexpected,
or unintended, development is an example of irony of situation.

In the short story given below, The Gift, by O. Henry, Della sells her beautiful long
hair in order to buy her husband, Jim a chain for his watch. Meanwhile Jim pawns
his cherished watch in order to buy Della a present of hair combs. This ironic twist of
fate produces a conclusion which is unexpected by both the characters and readers.

Check Your Progress 1

Read the following story and answer the questions given at the end.
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The Gift of the Magi

O. Henry

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all she had saved. Three times Della
counted it. Only one dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be
Christmas.

There was clearly nothing left to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and
weep. So, Della did. You see, life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles — but
mainly of sniffles.

When Della had finished crying, she patted her cheeks with the powder rag. She
stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking along a grey fence in
a grey backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with
which to buy Jim, her husband, a present. She had been saving every cent she could
for months; but twenty dollars a week — which was the total of their income -
doesn't leave much for saving. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated.
They always are. And now she had only $ 1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Many happy
hours she had spent planning something nice for him. Something fine and rare —
something worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.

There was a mirror between the windows of the room. Suddenly she whirled from
the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face
had lost its colour within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it
fall to its full length.

Now, there were two possessions of Della and Jim in which they both took a very
great pride. One was Jim's gold watch, which had been his father's and his
grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. It fell about her, rippling and shining like a
cascade of brown water. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment
for her.

She did it up again nervously and quickly. She hesitated for a minute and stood still
while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and
with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she ran out of the door and down the stairs
to the street.

Where she stopped the sign read: 'Madame Sofronie. We Buy Hair Goods of All
Kinds.‟ One flight up Della ran, and paused for a moment, panting. She opened the
door.

'Will you buy my hair?' asked Della.

'Yes, I buy hair’ said Madame. 'Take your hat off and let's have a look at it.'

Down rippled the brown cascade.

'Twenty dollars’, said Madame, lifting the mass of hair with a practiced hand.

'Give it to me quickly,' said Della.

The next two hours went by as if they had wings. She was searching the shops for Jim's
present.

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 Literary Devices She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no
other like it in any of the shops, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a
gold watch chain, simple in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone
and not by ornamentation- as all good things should do. As soon as she saw it, she
knew that it must be Jim's. It was just right for him. Twenty-one dollars they took
from her for it, and she hurried home with the remaining eighty-seven cents. Grand
as Jim's watch was, he sometimes looked at it with shame on account of the old
leather strap that he used instead of a chain.

When Della reached home her excitement gave way a little to prudence and reason.
She looked at what was left of her poor hair — and started to work at it with nimble
fingers.

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her
look wonderful, like a naughty schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror
for long- carefully, and critically.

At seven o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan on the back of the stove was
hot and ready to cook the supper.

Jim was never late. Della held the newly bought chain in her hand and sat in the
corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his steps on
the stairway and she turned pale for just a moment. She had a habit of saying little
silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and she whispered: 'Please God,
make him think I am still pretty.'

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed the door. He looked thin and very
serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two and had a family to care of! He needed
a new overcoat and his shoes were old and worn.

Jim stepped inside the door. Then he stood still. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and
there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not
anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she
had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression
on his face.

Della wriggled off the table and went to him.

'Jim!' she cried, 'don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I
couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow again —
you won't mind, do you? I just had to do it. My hair grows very fast, you know. Say
"Merry Christmas!" Jim, and let's be happy. You don’t know what a nice — what a
beautiful, nice gift I've got for you'.

'You've cut off your hair?' asked Jim, slowly, as if he had not yet arrived at that
obvious fact even after the hardest mental labour.

'I’ve cut it off and sold it', said Dell. 'Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? My hair is
gone, but I'm just the same.'

Jim looked about the room curiously.

‘You say your hair is gone?' he said with an air almost of idiocy.

'You needn't look for it', said Della. „It's sold, I tell you — sold and gone, too. It's
Christmas Eve, Jim. Be good to me, for it went for you. '

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 Jim seemed quickly to wake out of his trance. He drew a package from his overcoat Figures of Speech-2
pocket and threw it upon the table.

'Don't make any mistake about me, Della', he said, ‟I don't think there's anything
about a haircut that could make me like my dear wife any less. But if you'll unwrap
that package you will see why I was upset for a while at first.‟

White and nimble fingers tore at the string and paper. And then an excited scream of
joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails.

For there lay the combs — the set of combs that Della had worshipped for many
months ever since she saw them in a shop window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise
shell, with jeweled rims — just the colour to wear in her beautiful vanished hair.
They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had longed for them without
the least hope of possession. And now they were hers, but with her hair gone there
could be no use for them.

But she hugged them to her chest, and at last she was able to lookup with tearful
eyes and a smile and say: „My hair grows so fast, Jim!'

Then Della remembered something else and cried, 'Oh, oh!'

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful gift. She held it out to him eagerly in her open
hand. The precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent
spirit.

'Isn't it lovely, Jim? I hunted all over the town to find it. You’ll have to look at the
time a hundred times a day now. Give me you watch. I want to see how it looks on
it.'

Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch, put his hands under the back of
his head, and smiled.

'Della,' said he, 'let's put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They're
too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs.

'And now, let us have our supper. '

1 What do the following words and phrases mean?

i) flop down
ii) whirled
iii) cascade
iv) garment
v) panting
vi) proclaiming
vii) ornamentation
viii) prudence
ix) mental labour
x) trance
xi) hysterical
xii) wail
2 Can you find words in the story that have the following meanings?
i) a waterfall

ii) a coat worn outside another or over indoor clothes for warmth in
cold weather

iii) the state of being poor

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Literary Devices 3 Why did Della change to hysterical tears and wails?

4 What image has been used to describe Della's hair?

7.2.2 Ironic Contrast

Ironic contrast is achieved by showing the imaginary and the actual situation at the
same time. In the following passage William Saroyan describes suicide in a way that
is so different from what one would expect in real life.

Example 3

Poor Tom. He is sinking to his knees, and somehow, even though it is happening
swiftly, it seems that this little action, being the last one of a great man, will go on
forever, this sinking to the knees. The room is dim, the music eloquent. There is no
blood, no disorder. Tom is sinking to his knees, dying nobly. I myself hear two ladies
weeping. They know it's a movie, they know it must be fake, still, they are weeping.
Tom is man. He is life. It makes them weep to see life sinking to its knees. The movie
will be over in a minute and they will get up and go home, and get down to the
regular business of their lives, but now, in the pious darkness of the theatre, they are
weeping.

All I know is this: that a suicide is not an orderly occurrence with symphonic music.
There was a man once who lived in the house next door to my house when I was a
boy of nine or ten. One afternoon he committed suicide, but it took him over an hour
to do it. He shot himself through the chest, missed his heart, then shot himself
through the stomach. I heard both shots. There was an interval of about forty seconds
between the shots. 1 thought afterwards that during the interval he was probably
trying to decide if he ought to go on wanting to be dead or if he ought to try to get
well.

Then he started to holler. The whole thing was a mess, materially and spiritually, this
man hollering, people running, shouting, wanting to do something and not knowing
what to do. He hollered so loud half the town heard him.

This is all I know about regular suicides…the way this man hollered wouldn't please
anyone in a movie. It wouldn't make anyone weep with joy.

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I think it comes to this: we've got to stop committing suicide in the movies. Figures of Speech-2

(From William Saroyan: 'Love, Death, Sacrifice, and So Forth' in The Daring
Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, Copyright 1989, by William Saroyan
foundation).

Glossary

'holler: shout or yell

Check Your Progress 2

1 Restatement is a common device used to emphasize a particular point. Do

you find the writer using this technique in the above passage? Where?

2 Bring out the irony in the passage.

7.2.3 Irony in Satire

Satire is a literary weapon directed against persons or institutions that the author
believes should be corrected. The writer often describes a completely different
situation, but makes indirect parallels and reference to the things we know, so
that we realize what it is that the writer is criticizing.

Satire may be humorous and witty. Humour is the sugar coating which makes the
criticism easier to take. A writer of satire uses laughter against a situation, a
particular person, or a type of person with the aim of correcting an undesirable
situation or human folly, or saving people from committing follies.

Example 4

“Yes, Caroline of Brunswick was innocent; and Madam Laffarge never poisoned
her husband; and Mary of Scotland never blew up hers; and poor Sophia
Dorothea was never unfaithful; and Eve never took the apple — it was a
cowardly fabrication of the serpent's.”

(Thackeray: King George II of England)

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 Literary Devices In the example quoted above Thackeray is evoking moral indignation at some of the
famous names in history. By saying the opposite of what he means, he is emphasizing
the true facts about Caroline, Madam Laffarge, Mary of Scotland, Sophia Dorothea,
and Eve, and their unfaithfulness to their husbands.

Here is an excerpt from a powerful satire, perhaps the most powerful of all, aimed at
improving the status of the Irish people. Ireland was subjected to many commercial
and economic Restrictions under the British regime at the time Swift was writing. It
had become a question of survival for the Irish people.

Example 5

I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be
liable to the least objection.

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that

a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and
wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled, and I make no doubt that
it will serve in a fricassee.

(Jonathan Swift: Modest Proposal)

Glossary

'fricassee a dish made of pieces of bird or other meat cooked and served in thick
sauce.

Check Your Progress 3

1 Do you find the use of extended metaphor in the above passage?

2 Is the aim of the author to hurt, to improve, or to prevent a situation?

3 What is the irony in the passage?

7.3 PARADOX

As a figure of speech, a paradox is an apparently self-contradictory statement which is

nevertheless found to be true. A paradoxical situation contains contradictory elements
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that put together make sense. For example, the celebration of a fifth birthday Figures of Speech-2
anniversary by a twenty-year-old man is paradoxical, but makes sense if the man was
born on February 29.

Example 6

Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind,

That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
to war and arms I fly.

True a new mistress now I chase,

The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such

As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much
Loved I not honour more.

(Richard Lovelace: To Lucasta, Going to the Wars)

The poem is about a soldier who must leave his beloved to fight in a war. He calls the
foe in the battle-field his new mistress. The paradox is that he asks his beloved to
adore his inconstancy. The fickleness in his affection for his beloved is due to his
sense of duty as a soldier. The statement is paradoxical, but can be understood in the
total context of the poem.

7.4 ANTITHESIS

Antithesis refers to the putting together of contrasting ideas or words so as to produce

an effect of balance.

Examples

1 My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.

2 The prodigal robs his heir; the miser robs himself. .
3 Excess of ceremony shows want of breeding.

Check Your Progress 4

1 The following poem is divided into two stanzas. In what way does this
formal division correspond to the organization of ideas?
At twenty, stooping round about,
I thought the world a miserable
place, Truth a trick, faith in doubt,
Little beauty, less grace.
Now at sixty what I see,
Although the world is worse by far,
Stops my heart in ecstasy,
God, the wonders that there are.
(Archibald Macleish: 'With Age wisdom', from The Human Season.
Copyright 1972 by Archibald Macleish, Reprinted by Permission of
Houghton Mifflin Company)
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 Literary Devices

2 Read the following passage and answer the questions given below:
May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
Or hers before a looking-glass, for such,
Being made beautiful overmuch, Consider
beauty a sufficient end,
Lose natural kindness and maybe
The heart-revealing intimacy
That chooses right, and never find a friend. (William
Butler Yeats: 'A Prayer for My Daughter')
Glossary
distraught: very anxious or troubled; agitated

i) What kind of beauty does the poet want his daughter to have?

ii) What are the hazards of „being made beautiful overmuch'? How does
the poet illustrate his point?

7.5 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, we have studied incongruities or discrepancies involved in the use of

language, as in Irony, and the use of contradictory or incompatible elements as in a
Paradox and Antithesis, which help convey the meaning more effectively.

7.6 KEY WORDS

Antithesis: the putting together of two opposite ideas (e.g., 'We want deeds, not
42 words.‟)
Irony: use of words which are clearly opposite to one's meaning, usually with an Figures of Speech-2
amusing purpose (e.g., saying What a nice weather! when the weather is bad).

Paradox: a statement which seems to be contradictory, but which has some truth in
it. (e.g., „More haste, less speed.‟)

Satire: a literary word or speech intended to show the foolishness or evil of

some establishment or practice in an amusing way.

7.7 SUGGESTED READING

Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice.

Answers

Check Your Progress 1

I i) fall suddenly
ii) turned round quickly
iii) waterfall
iv) article of dress
v) gasping for breath
vi) making known
vii) adornment
viii) carefulness to avoid undesired consequences
ix) an effort of the mind
x) sleeplike state; half-conscious state
xi) uncontrolled; arising from nervous excitement
xii) long, loud, high pitched cries

2 i) cascade
ii) overcoat
iii) poverty

3 Jim bought Della a Christmas gift of combs made of tortoise shell studded
with jewels on the edges, which Della had longed to buy all these months but
had found too expensive to afford. Della bought a gift for Jim by selling her
long beautiful hair, her most prized possession. The realization that she did
not now need the combs as she had sold her hair made her cry in an
uncontrolled hysterical manner.

4 Della's hair is compared to a brown-coloured waterfall. The hair was wavy

and shining and looked like a waterfall. It reached below her knee, and
almost covered her body like a garment.

Check Your Progress 2

I Paragraph I : repetition of
i) sinking to his knees
ii) weeping
Paragraph 2 : repetition of shot
Paragraph 3 : repetition of holler
2 Death and suicide are serious matters, which the author has treated in a non-
serious way while giving an account of the two incidents. We, therefore, find
an ironic contrast between the author's account and the world of reality. 43
 Literary Devices Check Your Progress 3

1 Yes. A young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious,
nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled,
and I make no doubt that it will serve in a fricassee.

2 To prevent a situation.

3 The irony consists in treating children as animals cooked for food.

Check Your Progress 4

1 In the first stanza of the poem, the poet makes a statement that the world is a
miserable place. In the second stanza he says that the world is a wonderful
place. The two stanzas together balance his views.

2 i)He wants his daughter to be moderately beautiful.

ii) A very beautiful woman distracts the attention of other people. It also
makes her vain; she loses her natural kindness and can never have
good friends.

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