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Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
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.
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