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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—Horatio Alger:
In a deeply ironic passage that is dense with allusions and metaphors, the narrator describes a sermon at the college chapel, which is attended by the school’s wealthy white donors:
Here upon this stage the black rite of Horatio Alger was performed to God’s own acting script, with millionaires come down to portray themselves; not merely acting out the myth of their goodness, and wealth and success and power and benevolence and authority in cardboard masks, but themselves, these virtues concretely! Not the wafer and the wine, but the flesh and the blood, vibrant and alive, and vibrant even when stooped, ancient and withered. (And who, in face of this, would not believe? Could even doubt?)
Fearing that he will be expelled after he is admonished by the college president, Dr. Bledsoe, the narrator attends the sermon with a great feeling of anxiety. As he watches the musical performances arranged by the college and observes the behavior of the rich trustees, he begins to feel that he is observing a play in which the millionaires “come down to portray themselves.” Through this theatrical metaphor, the narrator implies that this sermon is an artificial ritual designed to flatter the donors. Additionally, he alludes to Horatio Alger, a popular 19th-century author whose works often featured “rags to riches” stories of young boys and men who work hard and gain prosperity. He also alludes to the Roman Catholic concept of transubstantiation, in which bread and wine is understood to be literally transformed into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. His allusion to transubstantiation is ironic, as these wealthy donors are by no means capable of performing otherworldly miracles.
