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Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Recommendation:
In Chapter 5, Kimmerer describes the culture shock she experienced when she joined the academic world of science, and also how she adapted to the environment despite significant hostility. She uses verbal irony and dramatic irony to make a point about her racist adviser:
I was accepted to do graduate work in one of the world’s finest botany programs, no doubt on the strength of the letter of recommendation from my adviser, which read, “She’s done remarkably well for an Indian girl.”
Unfortunately, it is not inconceivable that a graduate committee could have taken the adviser's comment seriously. However, Kimmerer's quotation is ironic. She has just described how she committed herself to science and learned to excel at it over the course of her undergraduate degree. At the time she writes Braiding Sweetgrass, if not at the time she applied to graduate school, she seems confident that she was accepted on the strength of her own merit alone. The adviser's recommendation is in fact laughably weak and today might even be grounds for a lawsuit. This adviser questioned Kimmerer's competence throughout her entire undergraduate career on the basis of her identity. She includes the quotation from the letter of recommendation not to show her appreciation, but rather to show just how wrong he was.
In fact, especially to the reader who comes to Braiding Sweetgrass in the wake of its huge success, this is a moment of dramatic irony as well as verbal irony. The adviser doubts Kimmerer will make a good scientist because she is "too Indian." What he does not realize is that Kimmerer will be wildly successful partially because she deftly brings her Indigenous perspective to science. It was no doubt disheartening, to say the least, for Kimmerer to have such a dismissive and prejudiced adviser during college. However, in this moment, she turns the advisor's own ignorance into a joke on him.
Related Themes:
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Abundant Thanks:
In Chapter 11, Kimmerer describes the impatience she has noticed among non-Native people when reciting the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. She uses verbal irony to create pathos in defense of practicing gratitude:
My own students profess to cherish the opportunity to share this experience of the Thanksgiving Address, and yet it never fails that one or a few comment that it goes on too long. “Poor you,” I sympathize. “What a pity that we have so much to be thankful for.”
When Kimmerer says, "What a pity that we have so much to be thankful for," she in fact means the opposite. It is not a pity, but rather a blessing that there is so much to be thankful for. This verbal irony draws attention to the fact that there is only an opportunity for a group of people to recite a long Thanksgiving Address when they have received abundant gifts. Abundance and thanksgiving go hand in hand. The students who complain look foolish in this light because, essentially, they are wishing for a reality in which they received fewer gifts so that they could spend less time expressing thanks.
And yet, there is also a minor note of sincerity in Kimmerer's comment. She "sympathize[s]" with the students' restlessness, or at least with the notion that the address does go on for a long time. It is not effortless to offer such a long Thanksgiving Address. This is part of the point. The light shaming she accomplishes with her verbal irony is directed not only toward the impatient students, but also to the reader and even to herself. This pathos is a reminder that the Thanksgiving Address is a not an empty gesture but rather a concerted act of gratitude and reciprocity that we owe. The world has given us many gifts, and the least we can do in return is take some of our precious time to give thanks.
Related Themes:
