Definition of Dramatic Irony
In the following excerpt—an example of dramatic irony—Doerr writes about the conditions in pre-World War II Germany. Something appears to be "rising," in that the country's economic output has increased drastically:
Indeed it does seem to Werner, as the weeks go by, that something new is rising. Mine
production increases; unemployment drops. Meat appears at Sunday supper. Lamb, pork, wieners
—extravagances unheard of a year before. Frau Elena buys a new couch upholstered in orange
corduroy, and a range with burners in black rings; three new Bibles arrive from the consistory in
Berlin; a laundry boiler is delivered to the back door. Werner gets new trousers; Jutta gets her own
pair of shoes. Working telephones ring in the houses of neighbors.