A Introduction
Irony has long been used as an element of literature. From the early days of Shakespeare to the current writings of Susan Minot, irony has been used to enhance and point out the contradictory elements to the fictional storyline while at the same time intriguing audiences and keeping their interest in the story. In children’s literature, irony is often used to express the exact opposite of what is said or illustrated in the book which often adds humor or tragedy to the overall storyline depending on that particular reader’s specific understanding and knowledge of the uses of irony. Irony is depicted either through verbal, situational or dramatic uses and one of the most well known uses of situational irony is the beloved children’s classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum in which Dorothy and her friends realize that they already possessed the gifts and abilities that they spent their whole journey to the City of Emeralds searching for.
According to Ellen Winner’s book Point of Words, there are three main types of irony -verbal, situational and dramatic (Winner 12). Verbal irony is when people say the exact opposite of what they mean. In The Bad Beginning Count Olaf, after hearing that the three children had been to see Mr. Poe about him, tells the children that he was so sorry to hear that they were having such a difficult time adjusting to the life he had graciously provided for them (Snicket 73). Judging by his words alone, he does regretful. However since he had spent most of the novel up to that point berating and yelling at the three Baudelaire orphans, the children do not believe him and more importantly, the reader does not believe he is being truthful either. His words do not connect with his tone and previous actions in the novel and the reader picks up on that. Research has shown that when it comes to verbal irony “children do not reliably understand irony until 6 years of age and that their difficulties with irony appear to be related to their difficulties interfering a speaker’s belief’s and intentions” (Dews 3075). Young children need hints that a comment is ironic as opposed to the literal meaning of the words. They need hints. “Usually the hints come in the form of facial expressions, tone of voice, knowledge of the speaker’s personality” (Herbert 80). In the case of Count Olaf, those hints come in the form of the very next sentence, “His face was very serious, as if he were very sorry to hear that, but his eyes were shiny and bright, the way they are when someone is telling a joke” (Snicket 73). While the slightly older reader can pick up the hints written in the sentence, for the younger reader those hints often come in the form of picture books.
Situational irony is when the author creates a situation and leads the reader to expect a certain ending when in fact a completely different ending ends up occur (Winokur 12). In the picture book Walter the Farting Dog, Walter has a problem with flatulence and while the children adore him, the parents of the house reach their breaking point with the stench and decide to get rid of him the next day. But when burglars enter the house that night and Walter’s farts save both the family and their priceless silverware, the parents decide to keep him after all (Kotzwinkle). It is ironic because the very thing that made the parents want to get rid of Walter in the first place, the awful stench, turns out to be the very thing that ends up saving him. But if you were to ask a young child to explain the irony behind Walter the Farting Dog, they might not be able, even if they found the ending humorous. According to a study done by the New York Times, “very young children can understand and even use ironic speech, even if they cannot describe what they have done” (Bakalar 1). The young child is still building their language linguistics and usually has few life experiences so while they might get the humor of the story, they most likely will not be able to explain the exact irony because irony is one of the last linguistic skills they learn (Kümmerling-Meibauer 157). Hence the reason why in children’s literature picture books oftentimes gives the young readers hints in the form of contradictions between the text written on the page and the illustrations to show and/or spell out either the verbal or situational irony for them (Kümmerling-Meibauer 162).
For the older readers reading more advanced text, dramatic irony becomes an integral part of their literature. Dramatic irony is when “the audience understands the situation while the characters are ignorant or believe the opposite, so that the plot developments have a double meaning, one for the characters and another for the audience (Winokur 18). An example would be in Romeo and Juliet when Juliet utters the line: “O God! I have an ill-diving soul/Methinks I see thee, now thou art below/As one dead in the bottom of a tomb” (Shakespeare 36). This is dramatic irony because next time Romeo and Juliet meet after this scene will be in a tomb, with both of them dead. The audience, especially if they have seen or read the play before knows that. Juliet however, does not. Another example of dramatic irony is Sophocles’ Oedipus the King in which the audience, but not Oedipus, knows that he has killed his father and murdered his mother (Winokur 18). The audience wants to shout to Oedipus and warn him but they can only sit back and watch tragedy befall him which keeps their attention riveted on the book or stage. Dramatic irony is harder for young readers to truly understand because as it was pointed out above, irony is one of the last linguistic abilities children learn so dramatic irony is often found in the upper reading levels of middle and high school grades rather than the lower elementary ages in comparison with verbal and situational irony.
Irony is “the use of language to express something very different –often quite the opposite – of what the language usually means" (Russell 48). In children’s literature that is shown in three different ways (verbal, situational or dramatic) and depending on the linguistic ability and reading level of the reader, different forms of irony occur in different levels of children’s literature. Usually picture books contain mostly verbal irony with illustration cues while the well known classics used in high school English classrooms often contain a lot of dramatic irony. And a great middle and elementary school favorite, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has an entire plot line dedicated to situational irony. All types are valuable to young readers and all show the importance of irony in children’s literature and how that particular story element can enhance the readers, or audiences, enjoyment of a story immensely.
Works Cited
Bakalar, Nicholas. "Too Young For School, But Ready For Irony." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 12 Oct. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/health/12irony.html?_r=0>.
Dews, Shelly, and Ellen Winner. "Children's Understanding of the Meaning and Functions of Verbal
Irony." Child Development 67.6 (1996): 3071-3085. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2013.
Herbert, Wray. "A Sense of Irony." Scientific American Mind 19.5 (2008): 80-81.Academic Search
Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2013.
Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina. "Metalinguistic Awareness and the Child's Developing Concept of Irony:
The Relationship between Pictures and Text in Ironic Picture Books." The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children's
Literature23.2 (1999): 157-83. Literature Online Reference Edition. Web. 23 Feb. 2013.
Kotzwinkle, William, and Glenn Murray. Walter the Farting Dog. Berkeley, CA: Frog, 2001. Print.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 11 ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2004. Print.
Russell, David. Literature for Children: A Short Introduction. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Woodbury, NY: Barron's, 1985. Print.
Snicket, Lemony. The Bad Beginning. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Winner, Ellen. The Point of Words: Children's Understanding of Metaphor and Irony. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1997. Print.
Winokur, Jon. The Big Book of Irony. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007. Print.
According to Ellen Winner’s book Point of Words, there are three main types of irony -verbal, situational and dramatic (Winner 12). Verbal irony is when people say the exact opposite of what they mean. In The Bad Beginning Count Olaf, after hearing that the three children had been to see Mr. Poe about him, tells the children that he was so sorry to hear that they were having such a difficult time adjusting to the life he had graciously provided for them (Snicket 73). Judging by his words alone, he does regretful. However since he had spent most of the novel up to that point berating and yelling at the three Baudelaire orphans, the children do not believe him and more importantly, the reader does not believe he is being truthful either. His words do not connect with his tone and previous actions in the novel and the reader picks up on that. Research has shown that when it comes to verbal irony “children do not reliably understand irony until 6 years of age and that their difficulties with irony appear to be related to their difficulties interfering a speaker’s belief’s and intentions” (Dews 3075). Young children need hints that a comment is ironic as opposed to the literal meaning of the words. They need hints. “Usually the hints come in the form of facial expressions, tone of voice, knowledge of the speaker’s personality” (Herbert 80). In the case of Count Olaf, those hints come in the form of the very next sentence, “His face was very serious, as if he were very sorry to hear that, but his eyes were shiny and bright, the way they are when someone is telling a joke” (Snicket 73). While the slightly older reader can pick up the hints written in the sentence, for the younger reader those hints often come in the form of picture books.
Situational irony is when the author creates a situation and leads the reader to expect a certain ending when in fact a completely different ending ends up occur (Winokur 12). In the picture book Walter the Farting Dog, Walter has a problem with flatulence and while the children adore him, the parents of the house reach their breaking point with the stench and decide to get rid of him the next day. But when burglars enter the house that night and Walter’s farts save both the family and their priceless silverware, the parents decide to keep him after all (Kotzwinkle). It is ironic because the very thing that made the parents want to get rid of Walter in the first place, the awful stench, turns out to be the very thing that ends up saving him. But if you were to ask a young child to explain the irony behind Walter the Farting Dog, they might not be able, even if they found the ending humorous. According to a study done by the New York Times, “very young children can understand and even use ironic speech, even if they cannot describe what they have done” (Bakalar 1). The young child is still building their language linguistics and usually has few life experiences so while they might get the humor of the story, they most likely will not be able to explain the exact irony because irony is one of the last linguistic skills they learn (Kümmerling-Meibauer 157). Hence the reason why in children’s literature picture books oftentimes gives the young readers hints in the form of contradictions between the text written on the page and the illustrations to show and/or spell out either the verbal or situational irony for them (Kümmerling-Meibauer 162).
For the older readers reading more advanced text, dramatic irony becomes an integral part of their literature. Dramatic irony is when “the audience understands the situation while the characters are ignorant or believe the opposite, so that the plot developments have a double meaning, one for the characters and another for the audience (Winokur 18). An example would be in Romeo and Juliet when Juliet utters the line: “O God! I have an ill-diving soul/Methinks I see thee, now thou art below/As one dead in the bottom of a tomb” (Shakespeare 36). This is dramatic irony because next time Romeo and Juliet meet after this scene will be in a tomb, with both of them dead. The audience, especially if they have seen or read the play before knows that. Juliet however, does not. Another example of dramatic irony is Sophocles’ Oedipus the King in which the audience, but not Oedipus, knows that he has killed his father and murdered his mother (Winokur 18). The audience wants to shout to Oedipus and warn him but they can only sit back and watch tragedy befall him which keeps their attention riveted on the book or stage. Dramatic irony is harder for young readers to truly understand because as it was pointed out above, irony is one of the last linguistic abilities children learn so dramatic irony is often found in the upper reading levels of middle and high school grades rather than the lower elementary ages in comparison with verbal and situational irony.
Irony is “the use of language to express something very different –often quite the opposite – of what the language usually means" (Russell 48). In children’s literature that is shown in three different ways (verbal, situational or dramatic) and depending on the linguistic ability and reading level of the reader, different forms of irony occur in different levels of children’s literature. Usually picture books contain mostly verbal irony with illustration cues while the well known classics used in high school English classrooms often contain a lot of dramatic irony. And a great middle and elementary school favorite, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has an entire plot line dedicated to situational irony. All types are valuable to young readers and all show the importance of irony in children’s literature and how that particular story element can enhance the readers, or audiences, enjoyment of a story immensely.
Works Cited
Bakalar, Nicholas. "Too Young For School, But Ready For Irony." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 12 Oct. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/health/12irony.html?_r=0>.
Dews, Shelly, and Ellen Winner. "Children's Understanding of the Meaning and Functions of Verbal
Irony." Child Development 67.6 (1996): 3071-3085. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2013.
Herbert, Wray. "A Sense of Irony." Scientific American Mind 19.5 (2008): 80-81.Academic Search
Premier. Web. 23 Feb. 2013.
Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina. "Metalinguistic Awareness and the Child's Developing Concept of Irony:
The Relationship between Pictures and Text in Ironic Picture Books." The Lion and the Unicorn: A Critical Journal of Children's
Literature23.2 (1999): 157-83. Literature Online Reference Edition. Web. 23 Feb. 2013.
Kotzwinkle, William, and Glenn Murray. Walter the Farting Dog. Berkeley, CA: Frog, 2001. Print.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 11 ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2004. Print.
Russell, David. Literature for Children: A Short Introduction. 7th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Woodbury, NY: Barron's, 1985. Print.
Snicket, Lemony. The Bad Beginning. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.
Winner, Ellen. The Point of Words: Children's Understanding of Metaphor and Irony. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1997. Print.
Winokur, Jon. The Big Book of Irony. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007. Print.