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Hyperbole
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
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Origin Stories:
In the novel's early chapters, both Enoch and Hazel lie to other characters about where they come from. These moments of dramatic irony bring about important characterization and signal to the reader that the main characters aren't entirely trustworthy.
When Enoch pursues Hazel in the third chapter, he begins to tell his life story. Several times in this chapter, he repeats multiple times that he's only been in Taulkinham for two months. He has mixed feelings about this milestone. On the one hand, it's a point of pride: "I ain't been here but two months and I already work for the city." On the other hand, it underlines his loneliness: "I been here two months and I don't know nobody." Given that Enoch has emphasized multiple times that he's new to the city, it surprises the reader when he tells a policeman they briefly interact with that he was "born and raised here" and that this is his "ol' home town." Even if it's more likely that he's lying to the policeman than to Hazel, this blatant lie indicates—both to Hazel and the reader—that Enoch has no qualms about stretching the truth to his needs.
In the same chapter, Hazel also proves unwilling to share the truth of his background, which again brings about an instance of dramatic irony. In this case, Enoch is the one to be kept in the dark. While Hazel doesn't directly lie to Enoch about where he comes from, he refrains from admitting that Enoch is close to guessing where he comes from.
Almost right away in the first chapter, the reader learns that Hazel is from a town called Eastrod. As in Enoch's case, O'Connor makes sure to repeat this information multiple times. Hazel is certain that the train porter comes from the same town as him, so he tells the porter several times where he was raised. In one of these lines, he specifies that Eastrod is "near Melsy." Because Melsy is the "nearest railroad stop to Eastrod, the first thing Hazel did after being released by the was buy to a train ticket there.
After O'Connor hammers in this information about Hazel's origins in the exposition, it catches the readers attention when Hazel denies any affiliation to Melsy in the third chapter. Enoch is sure that he's seen Hazel "sommers before," and throws a few towns out there to figure out where they may have crossed paths.
"You ain’t from Stockwell, are you?”
“No.”
“Melsy?”
“No.”
Although Hazel isn't fully lying when he answers in the negative about being from Melsy, the reader knows that Enoch is on the brink of guessing where Hazel is from. In this moment, it's clear that Enoch is desperate for a familiar face and a friend. By denying Enoch the pleasure of almost being right, Hazel rejects this potential friendship and indicates to the reader that he doesn't want anything to do with Enoch. The dramatic irony increases the distance between the two young men, and moreover shows that both of them are flippant about the truth. Neither of them are completely open about where they come from, and both of them suffer from a sense of unbelonging.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Such a Good Car:
Despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, Hazel is certain that his car is of the utmost quality. This conviction brings about dramatic irony, as it's clear to the reader (and many of the other characters) that the car is falling apart. When Hazel visits a mechanic at the end of Chapter 6, the mechanic more or less tells Hazel this, so Hazel goes to another mechanic. The second mechanic hyperbolically sings the car's praises, making Hazel content and the reader skeptical:
At the other garage he went to, there was a man who said he could put the car in the best shape overnight, because it was such a good car to begin with, so well put together and with such good materials in it, and because, he added, he was the best mechanic in town, working in the best-equipped shop. Haze left it with him, certain that it was in honest hands.
The final sentence in the passage contributes valuable characterization. Although Hazel hasn't so far given the impression of being a likable character, his critical reticence has made it seem as though he's astute—especially because the reader encounters him alongside the talkative and foolish Enoch. When Hazel acquires his car, however, O'Connor begins to take this impression apart.
It's evident to the reader that the mechanic's statements about the car, his own skill, and his shop are hyperbole. All of these statements are so extreme that there's no doubt that he's lying in order to keep Hazel as a customer. When Hazel proves willing to trust these statements, the reader gains telling insight into his psyche. Hazel left the other mechanic because he told him something he didn't want to hear. He's content with this mechanic, on the other hand, because he tells Hazel what he wants to hear.
Hazel's ironic claims about his car continue as it continues to break down. In Chapter 7, he's once again forced to go to a garage. Even if the man who helps him this time, a one-armed man, remains silent, Hazel defensively insists that it's a "good car" and that it will take him "anywhere" he wants to go. To boost his ego, but perhaps also to mock him a little, Sabbath Hawks echoes this opinion with a simile: “It’s a grand auto [...] It goes as smooth as honey.”
Hazel's ironic certainty that the car is top-notch shows that, while he may seem much smarter than Enoch because of his brooding demeanor, he's just his own brand of foolish. Hazel thinks he's uncovered the truth, but he's constantly lying to himself. Because he sees the car a sort of extension of himself, he's unreceptive to opinions that run contrary to his ideas and plans. Given that he makes the car both his home and his escape from his surroundings, his unwillingness to listen to the honest mechanic sets him up for vulnerability later on. When the car meets its demise toward the end of the novel, he does as well.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Fake Blindness:
When Hazel meets Asa Hawks in Chapter 3, he becomes fixated on the preacher's blindness. In Chapter 6, the reader learns that Hawks feigns his blindness, and O'Connor offers the back story of the "fake blind man." This and later chapters are marked by dramatic irony, as Hazel remains attached to Hawks' blindness without realizing that it's all an act. Finally, at the end of Chapter 9, Hazel discovers the truth about Hawks' eyesight.
In Chapter 6, Hazel knocks on Hawks's door to tell him that he's moved into the same building. After a brief and unfriendly interaction, Hawks shuts the door in Hazel's face. Since the third-person narrator has access to the scene behind the closed door, the reader is privy to what comes next:
Inside, Hawks took off his dark glasses and, from a hole in the window shade, watched him get in his car and drive off. The eye he put to the hole was slightly rounder and smaller than his other one, but it was obvious he could see out of both of them.
The image of Hawks removing his dark glasses after closing the door is analogous to that of an actor removing their costume after going backstage. Through this moment, O'Connor reveals that Hawks is merely playing the role of a blind preacher. The dramatic irony causes some problems for Hawks, as he's forced to always put on his glasses before he interacts with Hazel. In once instance, he just "barely [gets] the black glasses on in time" before Hazel walks through their door. As a result, he begins to keep his door bolted shut.
The closed door reverses Hazel and Hawks's roles: once the door closes, Hazel is figuratively blinded. In the coming chapters, the dramatic irony is sustained as he remains in the dark about Hawks' eyesight. This represents his unwillingness to accept the truth about himself and the world around him. Drawn to Hazel's eyes, Sabbath is enchanted by his figurative blindness: "[His eyes] don't look like they see what he's looking at but they keep on looking." Unlike for Hazel, the closed door has a liberating effect on Hawks. Once the door closes, he's free to acknowledge his eyesight.
Sabbath is, of course, in on her father's secret. She suggests that he tell Hazel "how [he] blinded [himself] for Jesus." The second time Hazel shows up at their door, Hawks shows him a newspaper clipping with the title "EVANGELIST PROMISES TO BLIND SELF." When Hawks express annoyance at the fact that Hazel leaves with the clipping, Sabbath taunts her father by saying that he's "got another clipping." This one tells the story of how Hawks backed out of the plan outlined in the first clipping.
Until Hazel finds out the truth about Hawks' eyesight, he feels confused about the preacher's standoffish behavior. Even if he doesn't suspect that Hawks is feigning his blindness, he still feels an impulse to see "behind the black glasses." At the end of Chapter 9, Hazel finally makes it into Hawks' room by picking the lock. He strikes a match near Hawk's face, and "the two sets of eyes [look] at each other as long as the match [lasts]." In this moment, the asymmetry of knowledge that sustains the dramatic irony disappears. This is the last time Hazel encounters Hawks, who subsequently disappears from the action of the novel.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Prophets and Profits:
As a character, Onnie-Jay sheds light on the intersection—and collision—between religion and moneymaking. Interspersing his dialogue with alliteration, oxymoron, and irony, O'Connor characterizes Onnie-Jay as a scam artist. He also acts as a foil for the brooding, tormented Hazel. Onnie-Jay provides comic relief but also shows that the aim of making money off of religious activities doesn't tend to coexist with sincere faith.
As the reader becomes familiar with Onnie-Jay, an ironic contrast distinguishes him from Hazel. Whereas Onnie-Jay attempts to convince the people around him to believe in his cause, Hazel attempts to convince the people around him—and most of all himself—that there's no cause to believe in. The two foils are both characterized by their dishonesty. But while Onnie-Jay lies to the public, Hazel primarily lies to himself. The former has a certain charm and delivers his money-making schemes in a compelling way while the latter mostly makes people uncomfortable. The two men's differences have an ironic effect: as Onnie-Jay attemps to co-opt Hazel's sincerity in order to make money, he disrupts Hazel's anti-religious message.
When Hazel tries to shake Onnie-Jay's pursuit in Chapter 9, Onnie-Jay becomes mad and threatens him. This threat contains a humorous and ironic moment of alliteration:
You watch out, friend. I’m going to run you out of business. I can get my own new jesus and I can get Prophets for peanuts, you hear?
Onnie-Jay's threats are ironic for a number of reasons. To begin with, Hazel was never interested in making money. This shows to what degree Onnie-Jay has misunderstood his new rival. The punchy alliteration "Prophets for peanuts," also adds to the irony of his line, as it shows that he only sees religion as a way to make money. To get back at Hazel, he claims that he can get a prophet for cheaper than he can. Additionally, the alliterative formulation contains another layer of wordplay, as prophets and profits are homophones. To Onnie-Jay, the main value of a prophet is that it's a way to make profit.
O'Connor similarly invokes wordplay in Chapter 13, when she uses an oxymoronic pairing to describe Onnie-Jay's new business partner:
On his second night out, working with his hired Prophet and the Holy Church of Christ Without Christ, Hoover Shoats made fifteen dollars and thirty-five cents clear.
The formulation "hired Prophet" has an oxymoronic effect, as prophets are supposed to be chosen by a divine being and driven by a genuine desire to share a religious message—rather than employed for wages. Once again, O'Connor drives home the cynicism at the heart of Onnie-Jay's seeming sincerity. Relative to him, Hazel is actually quite sincere—he just puts great effort into burying his sincere belief under a layer of cynical blasphemy.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Prophets and Profits:
As a character, Onnie-Jay sheds light on the intersection—and collision—between religion and moneymaking. Interspersing his dialogue with alliteration, oxymoron, and irony, O'Connor characterizes Onnie-Jay as a scam artist. He also acts as a foil for the brooding, tormented Hazel. Onnie-Jay provides comic relief but also shows that the aim of making money off of religious activities doesn't tend to coexist with sincere faith.
As the reader becomes familiar with Onnie-Jay, an ironic contrast distinguishes him from Hazel. Whereas Onnie-Jay attempts to convince the people around him to believe in his cause, Hazel attempts to convince the people around him—and most of all himself—that there's no cause to believe in. The two foils are both characterized by their dishonesty. But while Onnie-Jay lies to the public, Hazel primarily lies to himself. The former has a certain charm and delivers his money-making schemes in a compelling way while the latter mostly makes people uncomfortable. The two men's differences have an ironic effect: as Onnie-Jay attemps to co-opt Hazel's sincerity in order to make money, he disrupts Hazel's anti-religious message.
When Hazel tries to shake Onnie-Jay's pursuit in Chapter 9, Onnie-Jay becomes mad and threatens him. This threat contains a humorous and ironic moment of alliteration:
You watch out, friend. I’m going to run you out of business. I can get my own new jesus and I can get Prophets for peanuts, you hear?
Onnie-Jay's threats are ironic for a number of reasons. To begin with, Hazel was never interested in making money. This shows to what degree Onnie-Jay has misunderstood his new rival. The punchy alliteration "Prophets for peanuts," also adds to the irony of his line, as it shows that he only sees religion as a way to make money. To get back at Hazel, he claims that he can get a prophet for cheaper than he can. Additionally, the alliterative formulation contains another layer of wordplay, as prophets and profits are homophones. To Onnie-Jay, the main value of a prophet is that it's a way to make profit.
O'Connor similarly invokes wordplay in Chapter 13, when she uses an oxymoronic pairing to describe Onnie-Jay's new business partner:
On his second night out, working with his hired Prophet and the Holy Church of Christ Without Christ, Hoover Shoats made fifteen dollars and thirty-five cents clear.
The formulation "hired Prophet" has an oxymoronic effect, as prophets are supposed to be chosen by a divine being and driven by a genuine desire to share a religious message—rather than employed for wages. Once again, O'Connor drives home the cynicism at the heart of Onnie-Jay's seeming sincerity. Relative to him, Hazel is actually quite sincere—he just puts great effort into burying his sincere belief under a layer of cynical blasphemy.
Related Themes:
