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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.
When there is a clear difference between what readers expect and what actually occurs in a given situation, situational irony is at work. Here, Keyes creates situational irony by having Charlie claim that becoming smart will definitely lead to friendship and an end to his loneliness. However, the story later reveals that Charlie’s growing intelligence only brings more isolation. While there’s a brief period when his intelligence does make him happier, the smarter he gets, the more Charlie actually finds himself pushed away from others. The promise of “lots of frends” never becomes reality. Charlie’s statements about memory and feelings also point forward in the novel, foreshadowing the emotional problems that will come with his intellectual growth. In these lines, Charlie claims he cannot remember or reflect on the past. However, after the operation, painful memories constantly surface and overwhelm him. Keyes hints at these future struggles through Charlie’s early uncertainty.
Related Themes:
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:
[...] 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.
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or reader knows information that a character does not. This creates a contrast between the character’s understanding of their world and the reality of the situation they find themselves in. Keyes sets up dramatic irony here by having Charlie call Frank and Joe his “good frends.” While the reader sees that the other men are mocking him, Charlie is not intelligent enough to see Frank’s cruel comments for what they really are. Charlie trusts Frank and the others and believes their laughter comes from friendship. However, the reader knows Frank’s comments are not meant as a joke among equals. The scene is painful because Charlie’s gullibility and trust in others leaves him exposed to being the butt of every joke. Being urged to “always keep my old frends even if I can read and rite” sounds sincere and friendly in Charlie’s own mind, yet the reader senses the mean-spiritedness behind the laughter. Joe and Frank’s amusement comes at Charlie’s expense. This makes the gap between what Charlie believes and what the reader understands feel even more heartbreaking.
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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:
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.
The simile, “like I see him from the window,” compares the way Charlie views himself in his memories to a person watching a stranger through glass. This phrase shows Charlie’s inability to connect his past self with his present self after the operation to make him smarter fails. He cannot claim the memory as his own because it now feels distant, as though it belonged to someone else outside his current life. The use of the word “window” also creates an image of a barrier between him and the person he once was when he was intelligent.
This is also a moment of dramatic irony, because the reader can tell that the man in the memory is Charlie even though Charlie himself cannot. The narrative gives the audience knowledge that Charlie has lost. This effect makes Charlie’s situation even clearer and more painful for the reader, who understands what Charlie no longer can. Although Charlie is having a flashback to his own past, he cannot recognize his own experience.
Related Themes:
