The Joy Luck Club Literary Devices

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

Explanation and Analysis—The Lucky Servant:

Stories become Lindo Jong’s saving grace, as she convinces Huang Taitai of their doomed marriage. For the household servant, it is a stroke of great fortune and, for the reader, it provides a particularly comic instance of dramatic irony. Overjoyed at the news, the family servant dedicates herself to pious tribute in the months and years thereafter:

I heard later she was so struck with this miracle of marrying Tyan-yu she became a very religious person who ordered servants to sweep the ancestors’ graves not just once a year, but once a day.

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Explanation and Analysis—McDonald's:

Lindo Jong’s arrival to America allows readers to see the country through a new lens. The Joy Luck Club’s light satire draws upon the immigrant perspective as it finds humor in America’s quirks and flaws. Through pointed observations, Lindo shows the strangeness and irony of American mainstream culture. Her trip to the Cathay House in Part 4, Chapter 3, for instance, is a bafflingly comic experience in itself:

The Cathay House had a sign that said ‘Chinese Food,’ so only Americans went there before it was torn down. Now it is a McDonald's restaurant with a big Chinese sign that says mai dong lou—‘wheat,’ ‘east,’ ‘building.’ All nonsense. Why are you attracted only to Chinese nonsense?

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The Joy Luck Club: Irony 2 key examples

Definition of Irony