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Similes
Situational Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Coach Squeaky:
In an example of situational irony, Squeaky wins the big May Day race at the end of the story and then promptly decides to give up running so that she can coach her brother Raymond instead. The following passage captures the irony of her decision:
[B]y the time he comes over I’m jumping up and down so glad to see him—my brother Raymond, a great runner in the family tradition. But of course everyone thinks I’m jumping up and down because the men on the loudspeaker have finally gotten themselves together and compared notes and are announcing “In first place—Miss Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker.”
As Squeaky notes here, the audience at the race “thinks [she’s] jumping up and down because the men on the loudspeaker have finally gotten themselves together” and announced that she came in first place, when it's really due to her excitement about coaching her brother. Like the people watching the race, readers would also likely expect Squeaky to be jumping up and down because she won, especially after reading pages and pages of buildup to this moment.
This ironic twist communicates something important about Squeaky’s growth over the course of the story. Rather than committing herself to being a competitive—and unhappy—runner, she realizes that she can live a more peaceful and meaningful life by supporting Raymond in his own running career.
Related Themes:
