Irony can be a tough one…

You might have heard people say, “The irony of the situation was lost of him/her.” ‘Tis true, irony can be a difficult thing to grasp and understand but surprisingly we use it quite often and it is one of the things that gives language and expression so much of its energy and hilarity.  Some kind of structured contact with irony (something this site vaguely claims to do) can help improve your irony – discerning abilities though.

Here’s a excerpt from a great book I just finished reading called The Book Thief.

“It kills me sometimes, how people die.”

The book is set in Nazi Germany (around 1942) and is about a 10 year old girl named Liesel whose brother is killed and whose mother gives her up to foster parents. At her brother’s burial the gravedigger drops a book, “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” which Liesel picks up and keeps as a reminder of her brother. Here begins a pattern of stealing books, leading to a special relationship with words and stories. Her adoptive father is the light of her world, teaching her to read and playing the piano accordian to her.

I won’t kill it anymore for you except to say that perhaps the most interesting character of the novel is it’s narrator, Death. Death is haunted by humans – our capacities for both great love and great evil.

Now we come back to the start of this post, IRONY. Given what you now know about the novel, what is the irony of the comment above? The first person to get back to me with an answer has teeth – rotting but soul – lifting chocolate awaiting them at school.