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Closed Thesis: Irony in Literary Grotesques

Introduction

Irony is a major part of many literary works, especially those movies, novels, and stories which are based on tragedy. There are many examples including the movie Affliction, which presents the tragic life of Character Wade. Not surprisingly, most of tragic stories come from Southern writers, taking inspiration from Wars and conflicts, motivated from real life grotesques, writers such as O'Connor expertly presented something which was easily understood by their readers. Hence, irony has become a framework to present the message of the story. Southern Grotesque writings are very much based on Irony-led stories. I will analyze the irony of three literary grotesques including, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” “Revelations” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. The characters are often immersed in a selfish image, viewing themselves as humble, spiritual and mannered. This is the irony of such people; their fallacies can be easily illustrated through irony based writings.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

One of the best stories to analyze irony is Flannery O' Connor's “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The story expertly explores the myths and fallacies of Southern society's various aspects through the application of Irony. The grotesque story is based on character of a serial killer Misfit and a grandmother. The character of Misfit has been represented as ironic. Ironically, the man is a serial killer, but he has traits of a gentle man. For instance, he talks respectfully with grandmother and also provides help to people. He calls grandmother very respectfully and also apologizes for looking annoyed when he goes out of his car. He allows mother to join his husband. All his manners are concurring with his character of serial killer. “To be able to recognize a freak, you have to have some conception of the whole man” (O'Connor, 1960, pp.1).

On the other hand, O'Conner has introduced grandmother as very spiritual and holy women, coming from a respectful ancestry. Her description of irony is the selfish and rigid behavior of her. Even her family does not like her. She pleads Misfit to not to kill her, while her family is being murdered around her. Her selfness is exposing her masked piousness. The irony of both, the serial killer and Grandmother easily illustrates the mythical hospitality of South and readers can easily link the theme to the reality. The story has exposed the irony of grandmother through a character of a serial killer (Kilcourse, pp.30).

Revelations

The second example, which I will use to analyze application of Irony, is through a great literary grotesque called “Revelations” by O'Connor. The story also challenges the hospitality fallacy of South. However, this story is more detailed than the previous one. The story is based on character, which has a typical Southern characteristic, is racist, and what we call 'extremely religious'. Mrs. Turpin is sitting in doctor's office and looking at others, at the same time, she is comparing others with herself. Ironically, she finds only women like her, and judges others ...