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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
Progress Report 7
Explanation and Analysis—Lots of Frends:
In the experiment's early stages, Charlie writes about his expectations for friendship and shares what Professor Nemur has told him about keeping progress reports. This passage, which is full of both situational irony and foreshadowing, reveals Charlie’s tragically mistaken hope that intelligence will solve his loneliness:
If your smart you can have lots of frends to talk to and you never get lonley by yourself all the time. Prof Nemur says its ok to tell about all the things that happin to me in the progress reports but he says I shoud rite more about what I feel and what I think and remembir about the past. I tolld him I dont know how to think or remembir and he said just try.
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Progress Report 8
Explanation and Analysis—Keep My Frends:
Keyes uses dramatic irony in this passage to reveal the painful truth behind Charlie’s so-called “friendships." Here, Charlie describes a moment with Frank, Joe, and Gimpy when he believes he’s among friends:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] Frank laffed and said dont go getting so eddicated that you wont talk to your old frends. I said dont worry I will always keep my old frends even if I can read and rite. He was laffing and Joe Carp was laffing but Gimpy came in and told them to get back to making rolls. They are all good frends to me.
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Progress Report 17
Explanation and Analysis—I Don't Think Its Me:
In this bittersweet passage from the end of the novel, the author uses dramatic irony and a simile describing a memory to show Charlie’s growing separation from his former self. Charlie tries to remember what it was like to read and begins to see his past self from the outside:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I remembir a littel bit how nice I had a feeling with the blue book that I red with the toren cover. And when I close my eyes I think about the man who tored the book and he looks like me only he looks different and he talks different but I dont think its me because its like I see him from the window.
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