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Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
One (1934): Something Rising
Explanation and Analysis—Germany's Economy:
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.
While the narrator describes a prosperous Germany in this passage, dramatic irony stems from the fact that any reader informed about the history of this period knows what horrors to anticipate. This prosperity leads to war and genocide. Werner, however, does not yet know this, nor is he aware of his own role in the conflicts to come. Germany's economic upturn appears to young Werner as a boon, rather than an ill omen of Hitler's future fascist regime, which would employ this efficient industry to execute millions.
Related Themes:
Twelve (1974): Sea of Flames
Explanation and Analysis—The Sea of Flames:
In the following passage from Section 12, towards the end of the novel, Doerr includes a vivid description of the Sea of Flames, albeit an unexpectedly ironic one:
It is cut, polished; for a breath, it passes between the hands of men. Another hour, another day, another year. Lump of carbon no larger than a chestnut. Mantled with algae, bedecked with barnacles. Crawled over by snails. It stirs among the pebbles.
In this passage, Doerr uses verbal irony, describing the Sea of Flames (heretofore known as a beautiful gemstone) in unappealing language. The precious gem is "mantled with algae" and "crawled over by snails"—hardly a romantic prospect. This description is ironic given earlier accounts of the Sea of Flames' beauty and value. In the above passage, Doerr reframes this infamous gemstone as simply a "lump of carbon," different in appearance to coal but derived from the same backbone-forming carbon molecules found in all organic matter.
This ironic description is given by Doerr to undermine the gem's importance and infamy. It bears no more significance, in the grand scheme of the universe, than a lump of coal would. The Sea of Flames is no more or less subject to cycles of life, death, or entropy than any other material or living thing existing in the world.
Related Themes:
