Friday, October 9, 2015

What are great examples of irony in the J.K. Rowling used in her first book?

There are three types of irony: dramatic, situational and
verbal.  Situational irony is when something happens that is not what you
expect.


One of the biggest examples of irony does not
become entirely clear until later.  This is that Severus Snape is charged with
protecting Harry even though Harry was the son of his enemy in school.  Harry and his
friends assume that Snape is out to get Harry.  For example, when they see Snape keeping
eye contact and mouthing a spell at the Quidditch match, they assume that he and not
Quirrel is trying to hurt Harry.  Snape is actually trying to protecting
Harry.


Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something
that the characters do not.  In this case, the reader realizes that there must be some
kind of history between Snape and Harry, or Snape would not be acting like this.  Harry,
on the other hand, just assumes that Snape is mean to him and does not really know
why.


A final example of irony is Hagrid and Fluffy.  Hagrid
tells a stranger that the way to tame Fluffy is to use music.  He tells this story to
the children when they visit him.  Quirrel uses what he learns to get past the dog, so
the children do not have to use this skill.  It is also unusual and unexpected that each
task plays to the strengths of one of the children.  The potion test, the flying keys,
and the chess game are all designed so that one of the children can use his or her
ability when the others could not.

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