There are many examples of irony—verbal, dramatic, and situational—in Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns.
The first category of irony is verbal, which occurs when a character says one thing but means another. For example, when Jalil’s wife, Afsoon, tells Mariam they have good news for her—that they have found her a husband—it is actually good news for them but bad news for her. It is verbal irony when a character protests too much. When Laila tells Tariq she won’t cry over him in a thousand years, they both know otherwise. When they watch a romantic wedding scene, they say, “I’m never getting married” and “Weddings are stupid” when in fact they both desire a wedding. Sarcasm is another venue of verbal irony. A shopkeeper assures Rasheed that an item is valuable, and Rasheed replies, “And I’m Moshe Dayan” (in reference to the famous Israeli statesman).
When irony is dramatic , readers know something the characters don't know. There are several scenes of...
(The entire section contains 3 answers and 772 words.)
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