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Unreliable Narrator
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 11: Our Difficulties
Explanation and Analysis—Logical Mind:
The Herlandians often use logos as they question the men about how things work in their society, destabilizing the men's sense that their way of things is right. In Chapter 11, when Van tells Ellador about the role of sex in married couples' lives, Van (the narrator) responds to her logos with verbal irony:
“It develops love,” I explained. “All the power of beautiful permanent mated love comes through this higher development.”
“Are you sure?” she asked gently. “How do you know that it was so developed? There are some birds who love each other so that they mope and pine if separated, and never pair again if one dies, but they never mate except in the mating season. Among your people do you find high and lasting affection appearing in proportion to this indulgence?”
It is a very awkward thing, sometimes, to have a logical mind.
Ellador is skeptical that sex develops a permanent kind of love that has nothing to do with parenting children. She gives the example of monogamous birds that only mate during the mating season to produce offspring. Van's people would be anomalies in nature, she points out, if they need sex in order to bond with one another. She is willing to believe that that is the case, but the way she poses the question undermines some of the beliefs Van has previously taken for granted. He knows that sex and love do not always exist in proportion to one another, so now he is left wondering what exactly their relationship is in his society.
Rather than fully admitting his own shortcomings, Van jokes that, "It is a very awkward thing, sometimes, to have a logical mind." This is an example of verbal irony. Explicitly, he is complaining about the burden of being a smart, logical person. He is complimenting his own mind. Beneath that compliment, however, is an indirect admission that Ellador's logical mind has bested his own. It is "awkward" not only that she has presented him with logic that forces him to reevaluate his assumptions, but also that she has done so as a woman. He comes from a society that stereotypes men as logical and women as emotional. Here, though, Ellador has broken that stereotype and proven herself to be (at least sometimes) better at logic than her husband.
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