Various Types of Ironies Used by Carver - Essay Example

ESSAY ON FICTION Great employ a variety of irony in their works to achieve special rhetorical and artistic effects. Raymond carver’s short stories are abundant with various ironies and verbal repetitions made by various characters in his works. He uses various types of ironies such as verbal, situational, dramatic and attitudinal, in his short stories. Thus, the reader is forced to have a thorough close-reading of his short stories to reach at the unexpected turn of events and the subsequent climaxes in his works. One of the major attractions of his short stories stem from his ability to employ duplication and verbal repetition, which ultimately result in a lot of ironic statements and situations: “We should notice that duplication is one of the patterns that contribute to the static quality of carver’s narratives, since his characters not only engage in verbal repetition, but also reiterate the same gestures through out their interactions” (In Between Texts: Juliao Sarmento Addresses Raymond Carver. By Diana Almeida, May 2001) (http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:F5T91hDZ3ZYJ:www.fcsh.unl.pt/congressoceap/diana-almeida.doc+verbal+irony-+Raymond+Carver&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in) . This essay attempts to probe in to the various types of ironies used by Carver in his three major short stories: “Cathedral”, “A small Good Thing”, and “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love”; evidences and examples of each types of ironies such as verbal, situational, dramatic and attitudinal are brought out from a close reading of all the above mentioned short stories. Verbal irony is the most commonly used type of irony resorted by many writers because of its simplicity and effectiveness. Various definitions and innumerable examples of verbal irony are possible. When a speaker or character employs verbal irony, he “intends to be understood as meaning something that contrasts with the literal or usual meaning of what he says. The different sorts of discrepancy between the meaning of what is said and what is infact on the particular occasion meant with it give use to different kinds of verbal irony”. (Verbal Irony. Critical concepts. By Lyman A. Baker, 2001)( http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/cc-verbal_irony.htm.) . In “Cathedral”, we find the narrator expressing his jealousy and feelings of uneasiness towards his wife’s relationship with a blind man whom he cannot tolerate easily. The short story provides ample examples for verbal irony. The narrator’s remarks like “She told me he touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose--even her neck!”, “But they’d kept in touch, she and the blind man,” “She told him everything, or so it seemed to me “, “Now the same blind man was evening to sleep in my house” etc are full of verbal irony and the reader easily understands the ironic implications of the statements made. In “A Small Good Thing”, Scotty, the eight year old son of Ann and Howard, is admitted in the hospital after he met with an accident and almost all the exchanges made by the husband, wife, the baker and the doctor prove to be ironic, as Scotty succumbs himself to death in the latter part of the story. The doctor states that Scotty’s condition stable and that he is only in a deep sleep: “He is just in a very deep sleep….he is out of real danger, I’d say that for certain, yes.” But this is proved to be ironic, and in the same way, when Ann states “I don’t think he should keep sleeping like this. I don’t think that’s a good sign”, the irony is that something crucial and serious is going to happen to Scotty. In “What We Talk about When We Talk About Love”, Teri speaks about her relationship with her former husband Ed: “He didn’t love me the way you loved me….But he loved me” (140), which casts an ironic note on her relationship with her present husband Bel. Thus all these three short stories under consideration are full of verbal ironies that create provisions for a different reading of the texts. Attitudinal irony, as the term itself suggests deals with how the character’s expectations or attitudes regarding other character are shattered when it comes to reality. In other words, “attitudinal irony occurs when one character’s expectations are disrupted, believing reality is one way when it is actually another.”(Literary Elements) (http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:1fxh29IfxjYJ:www.smccd.edu/accounts/erpelol/Courses/spring06/lit265aa/worksheets/literary_elements.pdf+attitudinal+irony&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=in). In “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love”, Bel clearly states that “real love was nothing less than spiritual love” (137). He goes on explaining his standpoint: “The kind of love I’m talking about, you don’t try to kill people” (139). Later the attitudinal irony of his statements is revealed when he plainly admits that he loved his former wife very much but at the same time, he has thought of getting rid of almost everyday in his life. At another instance, in Cathedral, the narrator has a notion that blind men never smoked and he is shocked to find that “this blind man smoked his cigarettes down to the nubbin and then lit another one”. In the beginning of the strong a small good thing”. Ann considers the baker as rude fellow who “made her feel uncomfortable”. But at the end of the story it is highly ironic that both she and her husband spent a whole day in his caring company. Thus, there are a lot of instances of attitudinal irony in carver’s works. Dramatic irony is most widely used by dramatists to bring about dramatic effects in the audience and it is usually the outcome of the character’s lack of understanding of the turn of events of which the audience/ the readers have a clear out knowledge. As Lyman states, “ Dramatic irony is a relationship of contrast between the character’s limited understanding of his or her situation in some particular moment of the unfolding action and what the audience, at the same instant understands the character’s situation actually to be”(Dramatic Irony. By Lyman A. Baker, 1999). (http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/cc-dramatic_irony.htm). Raymond Carver employs dramatic irony so craftfully in ‘A Small Good Thing’. Each of the phone calls made by the baker, before and after the death of Scotty, provides instances of dramatic irony in the story. The readers are well aware that Scotty has met with tragic death, plunging his parents in to eternal gloom and frustration, and at this moment, Carver makes his character (the baker) to make the phone call where he remarks “Your Scotty, I got him ready for you,” the man’s voice said. “Did you forget him?” The reader feels pity for Ann and at the same time he/she cannot blame the baker became he is ignorant of the turn of events. Another type of irony that is extensively made use of in all these three short stories is situational. Situational irony stems from the discrepancy between the characters’ actual expectations and the real results. As Mary Elizabeth states “situational irony result when well- founded expectations-either a character’s or the audience’s- appear to be secure but fact to manifest another way in which appearance and reality can wind up in contradiction” ( What is Irony?. By Mary Elizabeth, 2007). (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-irony.htm). In the beginning of the story “A Small Good Thing Story”, the characters as well as the readers strongly believe that Scotty will be saved but the actual climax shocks everyone. In all the three stories we find how the expectations of the various characters are shattered in actual situations. In “Cathedral”, the narrator doesn’t have any regard for the blind man in the beginning and the movies he watched made him under the impression that” the blind moved slowly and never laughed”. He states that “his being blind bothered me”. But at the end of the story, the actual presence of the blind man changes his conceptions and the instance where the two jointly draw the picture of the Cathedral provides situational irony for all the negative remarks about the blind man made by the narrator. ‘In small good thing’ the death of Franklin, the Negro boy, provides the situational irony that a similar fate is awaiting Ann’s own son Scotty. Thus, the judicial use of irony and the peculiar narrative style has made Raymond Carver one of the most widely read American short story writers. On one side he appears to be obscure with his wide range of ironical usage; but on the other hand, he is simple and is read by anyone without much complication. His stories deal with real life situations: “Carver has been quoted as saying that his stories could happen anywhere. That is pretty much true. Additionally, they are so contemporary that they require almost no background material or preparation for reading and understanding by an American audience”. (Raymond Carver (1938-1988). edited by Paul Jones). http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/carver.html. The fact that he used a lot of irony in these three short stories, while dealing with the ordinary life of people, underlines the fact that human life itself is a mixture of all these types of ironies. The unexpected turn of events and the thought-provoking climax of his stories are the by products of his narrative style that makes use of variety of irony. Works Cited 1. In Between Texts: Juliao Sarmento Addresses Raymond Carver. By Diana Almeida, May 2001. (http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:F5T91hDZ3ZYJ:www.fcsh.unl.pt/congressoceap/diana-almeida.doc+verbal+irony-+Raymond+Carver&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=in). 2. Verbal Irony. Critical concepts. By Lyman A. Baker, 2001. ( http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/cc-verbal_irony.htm.) 3. (Literary Elements) (http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:1fxh29IfxjYJ:www.smccd.edu/accounts/erpelol/Courses/spring06/lit265aa/worksheets/literary_elements.pdf+attitudinal+irony&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=in 4. Dramatic Irony. By Lyman A. Baker, 1999. (http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/cc-dramatic_irony.htm) 5. What is Irony? By Mary Elizabeth, 2007. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-irony.htm) 6. Raymond Carver (1938-1988). Edited by Paul Jones. http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/carver.html Read More

In “What We Talk about When We Talk About Love”, Teri speaks about her relationship with her former husband Ed: “He didn’t love me the way you loved me….But he loved me” (140), which casts an ironic note on her relationship with her present husband Bel. Thus all these three short stories under consideration are full of verbal ironies that create provisions for a different reading of the texts. Attitudinal irony, as the term itself suggests deals with how the character’s expectations or attitudes regarding other character are shattered when it comes to reality.

In other words, “attitudinal irony occurs when one character’s expectations are disrupted, believing reality is one way when it is actually another.”(Literary Elements) (http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:1fxh29IfxjYJ:www.smccd.edu/accounts/erpelol/Courses/spring06/lit265aa/worksheets/literary_elements.pdf+attitudinal+irony&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=in). In “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love”, Bel clearly states that “real love was nothing less than spiritual love” (137).

He goes on explaining his standpoint: “The kind of love I’m talking about, you don’t try to kill people” (139). Later the attitudinal irony of his statements is revealed when he plainly admits that he loved his former wife very much but at the same time, he has thought of getting rid of almost everyday in his life. At another instance, in Cathedral, the narrator has a notion that blind men never smoked and he is shocked to find that “this blind man smoked his cigarettes down to the nubbin and then lit another one”.

In the beginning of the strong a small good thing”. Ann considers the baker as rude fellow who “made her feel uncomfortable”. But at the end of the story it is highly ironic that both she and her husband spent a whole day in his caring company. Thus, there are a lot of instances of attitudinal irony in carver’s works. Dramatic irony is most widely used by dramatists to bring about dramatic effects in the audience and it is usually the outcome of the character’s lack of understanding of the turn of events of which the audience/ the readers have a clear out knowledge.

As Lyman states, “ Dramatic irony is a relationship of contrast between the character’s limited understanding of his or her situation in some particular moment of the unfolding action and what the audience, at the same instant understands the character’s situation actually to be”(Dramatic Irony. By Lyman A. Baker, 1999). (http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/cc-dramatic_irony.htm). Raymond Carver employs dramatic irony so craftfully in ‘A Small Good Thing’. Each of the phone calls made by the baker, before and after the death of Scotty, provides instances of dramatic irony in the story.

The readers are well aware that Scotty has met with tragic death, plunging his parents in to eternal gloom and frustration, and at this moment, Carver makes his character (the baker) to make the phone call where he remarks “Your Scotty, I got him ready for you,” the man’s voice said. “Did you forget him?” The reader feels pity for Ann and at the same time he/she cannot blame the baker became he is ignorant of the turn of events. Another type of irony that is extensively made use of in all these three short stories is situational.

Situational irony stems from the discrepancy between the characters’ actual expectations and the real results. As Mary Elizabeth states “situational irony result when well- founded expectations-either a character’s or the audience’s- appear to be secure but fact to manifest another way in which appearance and reality can wind up in contradiction” ( What is Irony?. By Mary Elizabeth, 2007). (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-irony.htm). In the beginning of the story “A Small Good Thing Story”, the characters as well as the readers strongly believe that Scotty will be saved but the actual climax shocks everyone.

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