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Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
45. Moseley
Explanation and Analysis—Moseley's Perspective :
Chapter 45, which Moseley narrates, offers another glimpse at Dewey Dell’s difficult position. The pharmacist's perspective lends dramatic irony to Dewey Dell's situation:
So I thought maybe her ma or somebody had sent her in for some of this female dope and she was ashamed to ask for it. I knew she couldn’t have a complexion like hers and use it herself, let alone not being much more than old enough to barely know what it was for.
In Moseley’s initial, at-a-glance assessment, Dewey Dell appears as a young girl who is too shy and sheltered to comfortably ask for her mother’s drugs. These are ironic assumptions because Dewey Dell is actually newly motherless and seeking an abortion after being taken advantage of by Lafe. The moment is ironic because readers are keenly aware of these realities but, as a stranger, Moseley is not.
Despite appearances and what would be age-appropriate for a girl like Dewey Dell, she has come to the pharmacy for very mature and difficult reasons. Moseley’s perception of her youth highlights how strange and unfair Dewey Dell’s situation is. She does not comment on her own naivety in the chapters she narrates, nor do her brothers or father in their respective chapters, so this outside perspective puts the ironic contrast between appearance and reality on display.
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