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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
Chapter 38
Explanation and Analysis—Remarkable Magazines:
In this passage from Chapter 38, Kirsten and August have broken into an abandoned house and are paging through old magazines. Kirsten uses verbal irony to highlight the absurdity of what has survived from the old world:
“Look at the date,” August said. “Two weeks till the apocalypse!”
“Well, it’s nice that at least the celebrity gossip survived.”
Nothing else in the rest of the magazines, but this find was remarkable, this was enough.
So much of the world has been decimated by the pandemic, but in this house, the past seems to hang suspended. There are no working airplanes or cars outside, but the celebrity gossip of the past stays preserved and untouched in this place. Kirsten’s remark about it being “nice” that the celebrity gossip survived is verbally ironic because it points out the triviality of what remains. In a world where electricity, governments, and entire cities have vanished—along with the entire concept of celebrity and of mass media in general—the endurance of gossip magazines feels almost grotesque. Their meaningless content might have seemed important in the civilized world, but it feels nothing short of ridiculous in this context.
The phrase “this was enough” is particularly interesting here. On one hand, the magazine Kirsten finds is physically insignificant, as it contains no useful knowledge for survival. On the other hand, the simple, “remarkable” act of finding it is proof of a world that once existed and of a time when things like gossip were important and entertaining.
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