A lesson in irony
When I first started tutoring and lecturing the English language and literature, an early problem for this novice educator was to get university and college students, many of them with just a functional grasp of the language, to understand “irony” and the varied manifestations of it in writing and in literature, that what is said may not be what is meant or what will happen or indicate true motives, that the writer or character may be aware of or ignorant of irony.
It’s like lying? No. It’s being a hypocrite? No, it’s not hypocrisy. It’s sarcasm. Yes, in words, they may be rooted in the same emotion, but sarcasm is expressed with a bitter, caustic tone, a blunt weapon to express outrage, whereas irony uses wit to say one thing while suggesting another, eliciting a laugh to make its point.
How to know when irony is at play? Are there verbal signposts? Nope, it’s just a sense that should develop with maturity and experience, a sense that there is more behind words and actions, an acceptance that we will never really know anyone fully, if at all.
If I were teaching literature now, as an example of the two sides of one form of irony, I would go to Mark Anthony’s funeral speech where, in praising Brutus and his co-conspirators, 'all honourable men' being the oft-repeated refrain, he gets the Roman crowd to see them as guilty of regicide, lowdown stabbers-in-the-back. Mark Anthony wielded irony to win the crowd over to his point of view.
In contrast, where the speaker displays no sense of irony, I would refer to Azmin Ali’s plea to Umno to come back to the negotiating table to discuss the allocation of seats for the next general election.
He suggests that the bone of contention between the two parties is the 13 constituencies that were won by Umno in GE14, but whose reps have defected to Bersatu.
"What is being disputed are the 13 seats, but we don't have a problem with the balance of 209 seats... if they (Umno) demand the seats, let's discuss. Just because of these 13 parliamentary seats, the entire government (might) collapse. I think it's not fair," he said in an interview with Sinar Harian recently.
“Just because of these 13 parliamentary seats, the entire government (might) collapse. I think it's not fair." This from the man, whose name will always be tagged with a hotel in PJ, to talk about the unfairness of a government collapsing? There is a rich vein of irony.
Loudly grouching
In literary studies, there is also dramatic/tragic irony, when a character like Macbeth or Oedipus, seemingly a master of events and men, has the Fates (and his writer) inflicting a painful humbling.
Azmin, who is Perikatan Nasional elections director, says the coalition has a formula for the seat distribution for GE15, respecting incumbent seats.
This assertion ignores the elephant in the room – Umno has declared it will be a political ally only up to the next general election. They are loudly grouching about being second fiddle. They want to be on a podium waving the baton. They want to initiate another round of rewarding appointments to GLC posts and ministries.
Thirteen problematic constituencies? The accounting looks way off. In the meantime, Azmin is doing kindergarten sums: 1 + 1 + 1…
Talking about “plus one”, there is perverse irony (considering the stench of the issue, it’s like a retrospective foot-in-the-mouth) in Dr Xavier Jayakumar switching his allegiance to the PN government, when not so long ago he was calling them a “bunch of traitors and pirates”.
Now it’s mutiny on the Bounty, hoist the Jolly Roger fluttering its skull and crossbones, bracing salt air, a fearsome lanun plundering the rich cargoes of the sea.
He compounds his vulnerability to mockery on a more recent occasion when he condemned “unethical and immoral” party-hopping. “Unethical and immoral” - what are we to say of him now?
“You are taking away the people’s voice and support by doing this. You were voted in on one ticket, and, suddenly, you change to another. How do you expect people to react?”
Yes, do tell, Dr Jayakumar. How do you expect people to react to you now?
THOR KAH HOONG is a veteran journalist. -Mkini
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
✍ Credit given to the original owner of this post : ☕ Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH
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