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Hyperbole
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 3
Explanation and Analysis—Possession:
At the beginning of Chapter 3, Ashoke and Ashima make the decision to move out of Boston to the suburbs. This decision in the novel is accompanied by a healthy dose of situational irony, featured most prominently by Lahiri in the following passage:
Ashoke and Ashima are amazed, when moving by U-Haul to the new house, to discover how much they possess; each of them had come to America with a single suitcase, a few weeks' worth of clothes. Now there are enough old issues of the Globe stacked in the corners of the apartment to wrap up all their plates and glasses. There are whole years of Time magazine to toss out.
Ashoke and Ashima "possess" more now than they did when they arrived in America. The narrator doesn't choose to characterize this surplus by describing Ashoke and Ashima's new, important possessions, noting instead the items that the couple must dispose of. This ironic passage serves as commentary on American excess and consumerism. Even Ashoke and Ashima, two people raised with a different set of cultural values, cannot resist the allure of American overindulgence. This overindulgence is a facet of every aspect of American life, even for the poor and middle class, who often manifest excess by buying cheap junk that must later be thrown away.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Death and Tourism:
In Chapter 4, the Ganguli family takes an eight-month trip to India while Ashoke is on sabbatical. They spend some time in Calcutta but also take the time to visit other parts of the country, becoming tourists in their own right. In the following passage from Chapter 4, Lahiri utilizes situational irony to chronicle the Gangulis' tourist-like behavior:
For two days they wander around the marble mausoleum that glows gray and yellow and pink and orange depending on the light. They admire its perfect symmetry and pose for photographs beneath the minarets which tourists used to leap to their deaths.
At the Taj Mahal, the Ganguli family become tourists in Ashoke and Ashima's own country of origin, engaging in the same behaviors many other American tourists would. Note the contrast between the family's enjoyment ("they admire its perfect symmetry and pose for photographs") and the macabre setting ("marble mausoleum" from which "tourists used to leap to their deaths"). This situation is ironic because, although the Gangulis are Bengali, they behave like White Western tourists, out of touch with the tragic history of their surroundings as they contentedly snap photographs. This is proof of the family's Westernization, along with Gogol and Sonia's alienation from their culture and history. Even Ashima, who expressed aversion to Gogol's grave rubbings in America, ignores the Taj Mahal's macabre history.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Ashoke's Accident:
In Chapter 4, Ashoke gives his son Gogol a book of stories by Nikolai Gogol, hoping that Gogol will love the work of his namesake with the same voracity as his father. Gogol does not fully understand the significance of this gift, clearly never intending to read it. Gogol's incomplete knowledge in this scene results in dramatic irony for the reader:
He has never been told why he was really named Gogol, doesn't know about the accident that had nearly killed his father. He thinks his father's limp is the consequence of an injury playing soccer in his teens. He's been told only half the truth about Gogol: he thinks his father is a fan.
At this point in the novel, readers know of Ashoke's accident and its connection to Gogol's name; all the while, Gogol himself remains unaware of the truth. The narrator reveals this latter point in the passage above. Sadly, as Gogol is unaware of his name's true significance, he disregards the Gogol novel his father gives him as a gift. In part, Gogol's disregard for his father's gift is a natural side-effect of his disdain for the name "Gogol." Gogol wants nothing to do with his namesake—resents him even, unaware of Ashoke's traumatic and formative relationship with the Ukrainian writer.
Related Themes:
