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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
Dramatic Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Hulga Lying About Her Age:
In an example of dramatic irony, Hulga tells the Bible Salesman in their first conversation that she is 17 years old, while readers know that she is 32. The irony comes across in the following passage:
“How old are you?” [the Bible Salesman] asked softly.
She waited some time before she answered. Then in a flat voice she said, “Seventeen.”
His smiles came in succession like waves breaking on the surface of a little lake. “I see you got a wooden leg,” he said. “I think you’re real brave. I think you’re real sweet.”
Here, Hulga lies to the Bible Salesman about her age (so as to appear more desirable to him), and he appears to falls for it, as seen in the fact that he smiles in succession “like waves breaking on the surface of a little lake,” and then tells her that he thinks she’s “real sweet.” Aware that Hulga is lying to the Bible Salesman, readers may feel inclined to view him as innocent and overly trusting here, falling into the trap of viewing him as a “simple” and “good” country person (the way the rest of the characters condescendingly view him). Of course, O’Connor turns this assumption on its head later in the story by revealing the Bible Salesman to be a manipulative con man who was lying to Hulga in much more high-stakes ways than she was lying to him.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—“Simple” Bible Salesman:
The end of the story is an example of dramatic irony because Hulga and readers know that the Bible Salesman is a manipulative con man who has stolen Hulga’s artificial leg, but Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman do not. The irony comes across in the final paragraphs of the story, as the two women watch the Bible Salesman walk away from the barn where he has (unknowingly to them) abandoned Hulga:
“Why, that looks like that nice dull young man that tried to sell me a Bible yesterday,” Mrs. Hopewell said, squinting. “He must have been selling them to the Negroes back there. He was so simple,” she said, “but I guess the world would be better off if we were all that simple.”
Mrs. Freeman’s gaze drove forward and just touched him before he disappeared under the hill. […] “Some can’t be that simple,” she said. “I know I never could.”
The dramatic irony here is centered on the fact that Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman refer to the Bible Salesman as “nice,” “dull,” and “simple,” after he has just proved to readers that he is anything but. There is additional irony in Mrs. Freeman’s statement that closes the story—that she could never be as simple as the Salesman—when this moment proves that she is simple, in the sense that she (like Mrs. Hopewell and Hulga) has naively misjudged the man. This is one of the many ways in which O’Connor points out the hypocrisy of these characters, and more generally of people who are condescending toward those of lower socioeconomic classes.
Related Themes:
