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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—A Fox :
In a scene suffused with dramatic irony, an adolescent Demon fails to understand a euphemistic conversation between Stoner and his friends:
Extra Eye said, “A fox is going to whelp her pups, Stoner. You’re lucky it’s just the one.” And Stoner said he’d better watch it because some people are smarter than you think [...]
Stoner asked what they would do if they found a cherry Camaro they wanted to buy, but it came with a trailer on the back. “To buy, or just take for a hard run?” Extra Eye wanted to know, and Reeker asked, “How firm is the hitch, man?” All three of them laughing their asses off. I sat there [...] confused by all that was said.
While Demon's mother is in the bathroom, Stoner and his friends have a vulgar conversation, using language that they know Demon cannot understand. One of Stoner's friends, whom Demon nicknames Extra Eye, notes that "a fox is going to whelp her pups," describing Stoner as "lucky that it's just the one." Though Demon, who is still a child, does not understand Extra Eye's metaphor, the reader perceives that Extra Eye is talking about Demon. He suggests, in a veiled manner, that women are unavoidably accompanied by their children.
Using a different euphemism, Stoner asks his friends if they would purchase a desirable car if "it came with a trailer on the back." Again, he refers metaphorically to Demon as the "trailer" that accompanies "a cherry Camaro," by which he means Demon's mother. His friends continue the metaphor, making sexual jokes about Demon's mother that leave him "confused." This scene highlights both Demon's innocence and the rude, demeaning attitudes of Stoner and his friends.
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