Aim: How can we analyze the structure of irony in Lord of the Flies and its significance to the work as a whole
Do Now: Pair share: in our culture, we tend to value and appreciate rational thought.
How does this apply to Piggy’s reaction to Simon's death
How is relying on rationality ironic in this circumstance
My group said this applies to Piggy’s reaction to Simon's death because Piggy was denying that anything happened. He wanted to disassociate from the situation and pretend he wasn't there when the murder occured. Relying on rationality is ironic in this circumstance because when Piggy realized what had happened, he tried to rationalize since he didn't want to believe that he could do something like that and in turn put others at fault.
Elliot said that we value rationalism so highly because it helps us move forward in life. Piggy was denying the murder by minimizing it in order to move forward and get Ralph back into a leader mentality. He was trying to push what happened aside and focus on the bigger picture. Elizabeth said that some people in society are not capable of being rational, which applies to Piggy because was trying to make sense of what happened by saying he wasn't involved in anything. This is ironic because Simon was the one who represented rationality. Piggy was trying to rationalize the death of rationality. Ms. Peterson pointed out that Piggy went through one of the stages of grief-denial. He didn't want to admit what was going on. Ralph was being rational and pointing out what happened, but Piggy was denying it. Ralph and Piggy flipped because previously Piggy was seen as the smart and logical one.
We also went over the different types of irony:
Irony is the general term for literary techniques that portray differences between appearance and reality expectation and result or meaning and intention. A simplified version of this when the opposite of what you think will happen actually happens
Verbal irony is when the writer says one thing and means another: “The best substitute for experience is being sixteen”
Dramatic irony is when the reader or the audience sees a character’s mistakes or misunderstandings, but the character himself/herself does not
Irony of situation is when an event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the readers, or the audience. (Ex: waking up thinking you’ll be late to school and realizing later that it was Saturday)
Cosmic irony is when fate is in complete control of the situation. Whenever a character tries to improve his/her life, fate twists it.
Watch this video to see examples of different types of irony:Learn Irony Types Using Movie clips
All of these types of irony have occured in Lord of the Flies
Check out this PowerPoint for examples of irony in Lord of the Flies!
We then listened to a song called Ironic.
“Ironic” by Alanis Morissette Lyrics
However, there was some controversy surrounding the song about whether the lyrics were actually ironic or just bad luck. This site explains some of the controversy around the song
We discussed if the critics were correct about the lack of irony in the song or if they were too critical and there actually is irony
I discussed this with Kiara and we agreed that it is borderline. You could say that there is situational irony in the song because the things that happened were the opposite of what you expected. However, the lyrics could also be interpreted as coincidental. It is very borderline, and depending on your perspective, you could interpret it differently.
Similarly, Thomas said that some of the events in the song are ironic and some are not. An example of an ironic part of the song is with Mr. Play it safe. He spends his whole life making sure he is safe but when he finally gets on a plane for the first time, it crashes. His whole life was built on safety and the time he finally took a chance, there was a crash. An example of bad luck in the song was rain on a wedding day. That is not ironic because you have no control over weather- it is completely up to chance.
Ms. Peterson then pointed out that you can say the irony in the song is that it is about irony but there is no irony in it at all.
Next, we looked at some images. These images showed real life examples of irony. One of the images was a can of rustoleum (a chemical to prevent rust) that is rusty. This is ironic because the object had on it what it was supposed to stop. Another image we looked at was a gym, but there was an escalator to get inside. This is ironic because taking the escalator is seen as being lazy compared to taking the stairs, but going to the gym means that you want to exercise and not be lazy.
Discussion questions:
1 At the beginning of chapter 10 who is right, Ralph or Piggy?
My group said Ralph is right because Piggy was just trying to forget what happened, while Ralph was being more rational and accepting/processing what they had done.
Daniel also said Ralph because Ralph pointed out that the murder was on purpose and their intent was to kill. Piggy, instead, was denying that. It turned out that not one group thought that Piggy was in the right.
2 Why does Samneric's fight cause Piggy to distress? (page 165)
My group said that throughout the novel, Sam and Eric do everything together- they couldn’t even think independently. The fight was a sign that everything is breaking apart. The longer the boys were on the Island, the more savage they were becoming.
3 In this novel about chiefs and leaders, are there any heroes? Is this ironic?
My group agreed that there really isn’t any hero in this novel. The only person who could possibly be considered one (Simon) was killed.
Elizabeth said Simon is a hero. He is like a portrayal of Jesus, who is a hero in the Bible.
Simon is the rationality and hero in this book.
Ms. Peterson added that heroes sacrifice for the people around them. People should look at them and feel hope. So, on some level we could say Simon but he was murdered. The irony is that they killed him, which means that the boys squashed their ability to move forward and rationalize their decisions.
Ms. Peterson also reminded us that we have a test on Monday and what we need to bring to class on that day: number 2 pencils and a blue or black ink pen.
The test is going to be multiple choice, done on a scantron. You need to shade the answer choice with pencil, and then put a slash through the answer choice in ink. This is because scantrons sometimes mess up and accidentally mark the correct choice as wrong. If that happens, Ms. Peterson can see that you actually had the right answer and adjust your grade accordingly.
Reflection:
Today’s lesson strengthened my understanding of different types of irony. There are multiple types of irony: verbal, dramatic, situational, and cosmic. Irony is very apparent in Lord of the Flies, and even regular life in general. It is a very important tool for literature. Authors can use irony to make their readers stop and think about what is happening or to highlight a certain idea. Additionally, using irony in literature can create a more dramatic or humorous effect and evoke more emotion from the reader. Irony can completely change the context/situation of an event. Using this lesson, I can now better understand/notice ironic events that happen in my everyday life. I can understand the more ‘hidden’ meaning in events. Connecting back to the aim, (how can we analyze the structure of irony in Lord of the Flies and its significance to the work as a whole?) irony is used to emphasize what is happening to the boys on the island. Their unfortunate circumstances as well as their ever growing descent into savagery is emphasized through the use of irony.
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