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Similes
Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—Karkov's Poison:
In the following excerpt from Chapter 18, Jordan recounts a conversation he had with Karkov in a flashback sequence. The content of this conversation is situationally ironic, indicating the at times confusing and contradictory attitudes characters have towards violence.
"But I have a little more here," Karkov had grinned and showed the lapel of his jacket. "You simply put the lapel in your mouth like this and bite it and swallow."
"That's much better," Robert Jordan had said.
"Tell me, does it smell like bitter almonds the way it always does in detective stories?"
"I don't know," Karkov said delightedly. "I have never smelled it. Should we break a little tube and smell it?"
In the above instance of situational irony, Karkov and Jordan discuss the act of poisoning oneself if captured by opposing forces. Karkov responds differently to this conversation than one might expect from the situation, speaking "delightedly" at the prospect of smelling poison. Jordan, too, is no bystander: he displays a morbid curiosity about the scent and use of poison, citing detective stories as his principal information source. Given the serious tone afforded violent topics in the novel, this passage stands out as incongruous. Both characters, for the moment, are not according death and destruction the consideration they deserve.
Related Themes:
