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Gabrielle Gloekler
AP Literature
September 30, 2009
Literary Analysis
Literature uses irony to either create suspense or comedy. Writers use irony to
make their stories have more significance and to allow the readers to think about what is
happening in the plot. Irony allows the story to have a deeper meaning. There are
different kinds of irony: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and irony of situation. Verbal irony
is when someone says something, but he or she means something else. Dramatic irony is
the comparison of what a person says, what they are thinking, and what the reader knows.
Irony of situation is the difference between what would seem to have happened and what
actually did happen. The two stories I chose to discuss about ironic situations were
“Hunters in the Snow” by Tobias Wolff and “The Kugelmass Episode” by Woody Allen.
“Hunters in the Snow” uses irony for suspense and humor, while “The Kugelmass
Episode’ uses irony just for humor.
In “Hunters in the Snow” there is hostility between the characters that builds up
throughout the story. In the beginning there is an alliance between two of the hunters,
Frank and Kenny. Kenny is the leader of the pack and is very judgmental of the one of
the other hunters, Tub. Tub is emotionally hurt by Kenny’s remarks but does not have the
courage to defend himself. Later in the story Kenny starts to shoot different objects. This
is an example of verbal irony because of the way he displays his behavior while shooting
these multiple objects. When Kenny first said, “I hate that post”, he shot it (Wolff 91).
When he said, “I hate that dog”, again, he shot it. (Wolff 91). When Tub said how he felt
about Kenny shooting the dog, Kenny said, “I hate you” (Wolff 91). At this point readers
expect Kenny to shoot Tub because of the pattern. The twist comes when Tub shoots
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Kenny in self defense. This is a surprise because Tub is a very quiet and weak character
who would not have been expected to do such a bold action. This also causes a new
leadership role to form from Tub, and Kenny becomes the weakest of the group. This
would not have been expected in the beginning of the story since Kenny had such a
forceful and antagonizing attitude.
After this event happened, a new alliance was formed between Tub and Frank,
leaving Kenny isolated. Tub and Frank create a bond when they tell each other their
darkest secrets. Kenny’s isolation is further exemplified when Frank encourages Tub to
eat four orders of pancakes at a restaurant, while leaving Kenny in the bed of the truck.
Although Tub does not encourage Frank to continue his affair with the babysitter, he
doesn’t say anything against it. This situation is an example of irony of situation because
when they share their personal problems with each other, readers would assume that the
other person would show sympathy or guidance to relieve them of their unhealthy habits.
In reality, Frank actually encourages Tub to continue with his habit, while Tub shares his
own support to Frank’s immoral issue. Irony plays a key role in this story by showing the
character’s personalities and true feelings. It also adds excitement and suspense at certain
parts to make the plot more interesting.
“The Kugelmass Episode” uses irony for humorous purposes. The story begins
with an unhappily married man, who is seeing an analyst to vent about his issues.
Kugelmass believes an affair will make him happy, even though it will solve nothing.
The first ironic situation occurs when his analyst is speaking: “…there is no overnight
cure. After all, I’m an analyst, not a magician” (Allen 349). The second part to this irony
does not occur until the end of the story when the magician says, “As far as your personal
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anxiety goes, that I can’t help you with. I’m a magician, not an analyst” (Allen 356). At
the beginning of the story Kugelmass believes that a magician will solve his problems.
He then learns that the magician is unable to solve his problems, and what he needed was
what he had to begin with, which was his analyst.
Another example of irony of situation is when Kugelmass travels through a novel
to find a fictional character to have an affair with in order to escape from is annoying
wife. He hopes this will help his problems, instead he finds that he is just as irritated with
the girl he is having an affair with as he is with his wife. At first when he begins cheating
on his wife with Emma Bovary, he expresses his love for her, “He felt a sudden impulse
to take his vision into his arms and tell her she was the kind of woman he had dreamed of
all his life (Allen 351). Once Emma had come back with Kugelmass to the real world, she
became very bothersome to him. His love for her had shifted into an annoyance,
“…Emma and I have had it up to here with each other. Not to mention a hotel tab that
reads like the defense budget” (Allen 356). Since Kugelmass was so in love with Emma
when he first saw her, it is surprising to see him be annoyed by her. After Kugelmass is
able to escape from Emma, he tells the magician “I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll never cheat
again, I swear it” (Allen 357). Kugelmass obviously does not stand by his word when he
comes back three weeks later for another adventure. This irony shows his inability to
commit, both to his marriage and to his word.
The ending had an ironic twist when the magician, Persky, had a heart attack and
his magical box caught on fire, destroying his house. In the end, Kugelmass got what he
wanted which was to be in a book. The ironic part of this is that he is permanently
trapped in that book forever. Another ironic part was that he is stuck in a Spanish text
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book, rather than a novel or short story because what Kugelmass wanted was excitement
and entertainment like a novel or story. A textbook is very plain and boring. He is being
chased by the verb “tener” which means “to have” (Allen 358). In the beginning
Kugelmass complains about what he has and what he wants, and he chases after things
that he wants to have, like an affair. By the end, the actual verb that means “to have” is
chasing him, which causes a very ironic conclusion to the story.
Irony is used abundantly in both of these stories for different reasons. There are
many different types of irony, depending on how it is used. Irony of situation was a very
popular type of irony in both of these stories. It added comedy to “The Kugelmass
Episode” and created suspenseful moments in “Hunters in the Snow”.
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Work Cited
Allen, Woody.”The Kugelmass Episode.” Perrine’s Literature. Ed. Thomas R. Arp and
Greg Johnson. 9th edition. Belmont, Ca: Thomson/ Wadsworth, 2006.pages 348358.
Wolff, Tobias. “Hunters in the Snow.” Perrine’s Literature. Ed. Thomas R. Arp and Greg
Johnson. 9th edition. Belmont, Ca: Thomas/ Wadsworth, 2006. Pages 86-99.