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Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Chapter 4: A Career Which Soon Careered To An End
Explanation and Analysis—A Lively Career:
In Chapter 4, Mr. Melvyn has decided to move his family to Possum Gully and pursue a career in trading stocks. The narrator employs dramatic irony and foreshadowing to underscore the tragic trajectory of this risky and foolish choice. Sybylla tells the reader that:
While Mother, Jane Haizelip, and I found the days long and life slow, Father was enjoying himself immensely. He had embarked upon a lively career—that gambling trade known as dealing in stock. [...] He was crippled with too many Utopian ideas of honesty, and was too soft ever to come off anything but second-best in a deal. He might as well have attempted to make his fortune by scraping a fiddle [...]
Franklin bathes the term "lively career" in verbal irony in this passage. It is used to describe Mr. Melvyn’s venture into stock trading, but the reader is already aware of the impending failure of his endeavors because the narrator has explained them—so, "lively" ironically implies ruin. The depiction of him as being "crippled with too many Utopian ideas of honesty" and "too soft ever to come off anything but second-best in a deal" is both critical and kind. Mr. Melvyn is not a very smart or strong person, but those problems come from an excess of honesty and “softness.” The grim foreshadowing of the statement that he “might as well have attempted to make his fortune by scraping a fiddle” doesn’t bode well for Sybylla’s father’s “lively career.”
This contrast between Mr. Melvyn's enthusiasm and the reader's knowledge of his coming failure intensifies the sense of tragedy surrounding this character. The dramatic irony used here highlights the disparity between his optimistic perception of his world and the harsh realities that await him. While his family experiences slow and laborious days in dull Possum Gully, Mr. Melvyn immerses himself in a career that mirrors the volatility and excitement of a “gambling trade.” With this in mind, another instance of dramatic irony lies in the disconnect between Melvyn’s genuine enjoyment of his work in the present moment, and the reality of the problems his misplaced enthusiasm causes later. Current happiness often means future troubles in My Brilliant Career.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Fifth Commandment:
In Chapter 4 Franklin employs a powerful, verbally ironic allusion to the Fifth Commandment from the Bible, "Honor thy father and thy mother." This irony becomes evident as Sybylla finds herself compelled to accompany her drunken father home late at night:
Coming home, often after midnight, with my drunken father talking maudlin, conceited nonsense beside me, I developed curious ideas on the fifth commandment.
The societal expectations of respect and deference to one's parents—as outlined by this Biblical commandment—clash with Sybylla's personal feelings of disappointment towards her father's conduct. Despite the Fifth Commandment's explicit directive to respect one's parents, Sybylla grapples with her inability to "honor" her father given his habitual drunkenness. This situation puts her in a difficult and conflicted position, especially in the Christian society in which she lives. The ironic use of the word "curious" is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that, essentially, Sybylla doesn't obey the Fifth Commandment.
This allusion emphasizes the discord between the societal expectations of the time and the realities of Sybylla's existence as the daughter of an unfit father. The verbal irony of Sybylla’s words also points to her intelligence and rebellious nature. Even as a very young person, she can see that instructions from the Bible aren't simple to apply in one's particular situation, and that one's parents don't always set the best examples.
Related Themes:
