I r o n y

Irony is often unavoidable in real life, but in writing it is a very useful tool in communicating a concept often associated with satire or sarcasm.  It is an effective way to convey a point to an audience because it puts a situation or idea into a sort of sarcastic perspective that more obviously depicts the flaws of the topic being discussed.

There are two common types of irony:

• Expectational Irony
• Oxymoron Irony

***Note: These are not legitimate terms, and EliAnalyzed© is in no way responsible if you use these in real life and look stupid.

Expectational Irony is used in literature when an author plays with your expectations, setting you up to expect one thing, and then totally throwing a curve ball.  For me, the most prominent example of how Gordimer uses this type of irony is in how she sets up the story in the first place-- it's written primarily in synopsis, just like a fairytale, and begins with "In a house, in a suburb, in a city, there were a man and his wife who loved each other very much and were living happily ever after".  And for God's sake, the story is even called "ONCE UPON A TIME".  I don't know about you, but when I hear those four magical words, I expect a pleasant story with a happy ending.  I mean, I don't know how Gordimer was raised, but I was personally brought up to believe that fairytales are not meant to be dismal, and quite frankly, TRAUMATIZING accounts of death and tragedy.  But who knows?  Maybe Gordimer is also trying to teach us a little something about expectations...

On the other hand, Oxymoron Irony is the kind of irony that has to do with contradictions, some great examples of which can be found in Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic".  Morissette describes a "no-smoking sign on your cigarette break" or "a free ride when you've already paid."  If an oxymoron is a phrase made of two opposites, then Oxymoron Irony is a situation made of opposites.  Point being, Oxymoron Irony is also apparent in "Once Upon a Time".  Gordimer depicts a family that goes to such extreme lengths for safety that they finally take it too far, and what they thought would make their son safe is what ended up killing him.  The fence in that story is such a prime example of Oxymoron Irony because it represents such a huge contradiction: the difference between safety and death.

So... What's the point?  Well, I guess Gordimer could have just told us "So basically, humans have a tendency to go to extreme lengths to get what they want, like safety.  But that never turns out great, so I wouldn't advise it.  So um, yeah."  Very convincing, right?  However, instead of doing that, Gordimer used irony.  She crushed our expectations and perplexed us with contradictions, and in doing so, was more effectively able to portray her point.