What are some situational ironies in To Kill a Mockingbird chapter 2?

Another example of situational irony in this chapter is the disparity between Miss Caroline and her pupils as a whole.  The way that she looks, acts and dresses is at odds with the kind of class she is teaching. She is a very dainty, pretty sort of person (Jem appears to have a brief crush on her); Scout sums her up by saying that 'she looked and smelled like a peppermint drop'. However, her pupils are from a different, rougher kind of background, and she is not really able to connect with them as a result. This is neatly illustrated in the incident when she reads them a pretty little story about cats that talk and dress up. She entirely loses them at this point. As Scout reflects: 

Miss Caroline seemed unaware that the ragged, denim-shirted and floursack-skirted first grade, most of whom had chopped cotton and fed hogs from the time they were able to walk, were immune to imaginative literature.

These children, then, are plainly-clothed, used to hard graft and do not respond to the whimsical stories that Miss Caroline regales them with. Miss Caroline certainly means well, but she isn't able to appreciate the reality that most of her pupils live in, which appears as a rather different world to her own. 

Situational irony is when the opposite of what is expected happens.  The first example of situational irony is when Scout gets in trouble in school for already knowing how to read.

Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me any more, it would interfere with my reading. (ch 2)

This is ironic because usually a teacher would be thrilled that one of her students was so far ahead, or that a parent was so involved.  Miss Caroline is not!

Another ironic situation is the conflict between Scout and Miss Caroline over Walter.  When Scout tells Miss Caroline why Walter does not have lunch, she is trying to be helpful.  The class expects Miss Caroline to be grateful.

Miss Caroline and I had conferred twice already, and they were looking at me in the innocent assurance that familiarity breeds understanding. (ch 2)

Miss Caroline is not impressed.  She thinks Scout is being snotty and asks her to hold out her hand (which, ironically, Scout thinks means they have reached an agreement) and hits her with a ruler.  This whole situation is ironic because Miss Caroline punishes Scout when she is just trying to help.

What is the ironic incident in Chapter 12 of To Kill A Mockingbird?

I think you are talking about the time that Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her all black church.  Atticus has been called to the state legislature and is gone from home, so Calpurnia decides the children will go with her to church services.  As they enter the church, a parishioner, Lulu, criticizes Calpurnia for bringing the white children with her to church.  Scout and Jem are welcomed into the church by other members and Reverend Sykes, but it is a different worship service than they are used to.  There is only one hymnal, and Zeebo, Calpurnia’s son, reads from it.  There is also a collection taken up for Helen Robinson who is unable to find work now that Tom has been arrested.

It is an ironic episode because the black community has always been discriminated against in Maycomb.  They are segregated in their own communities and churches.  So, for some members of the church, Calpurnia bringing Scout and Jem into their church is not appreciated.  Lulu and other church members are discriminating against Scout and Jem in this instance.  It is a pretty normal reaction by the black parishioners who have been kept separate all their lives from the white community.  However, the Christian religion preaches to accept everyone, so it is ironic that Lulu and others hesitate in accepting the children.

Does Chapter 15 of To Kill a Mockingbird contain an example of dramatic irony?

As you already know, dramatic irony results when we as the readers actually know more about what's going on than one or more of the characters do.

Because Scout is so young and naive throughout this novel, and because her older self is narrating the story, we experience lots of dramatic irony throughout the novel. Any time we know what's going on and Scout doesn't, that's dramatic irony in play.

So let's take a look at that quote from Chapter 15 and make some sense of it. Assuming we've been paying sharp attention as readers, what is it that we know that Scout doesn't know?

That conversation takes place at the Finch home. Mr. Heck Tate and Mr. Link Deas, among other men, have come to talk to Atticus. The curious kids (Scout, Jem, and their friend Dill) spy on the conversation through the window.

The men are worried that the townspeople will get drunk and violent toward Tom while he is being moved to the county jail.

When Link asks Atticus why he even took on such a terrible case, that's when Atticus responds that Tom might be put to death, but people will hear the truth first.

And what Scout doesn't realize--but we do realize--is what the truth is. Tom is innocent. He didn't commit the rape he's been accused of. Further, we know that Atticus is acknowledging that he could lose and that his client could die, and still he’s going to make the truth known, because it’s the right thing to do. Of course, Scout doesn't understand the situation right then. She's a small child, curious as can be and eager to pay attention, but she doesn't have all the details of the trial. 

What is the irony in chapter 26 of To Kill A Mockingbird?

In chapter 23, Scout participates in a Current Events activity in her third-grade class and listens as Cecil Jacobs reads an article about Hitler's persecution of the Jews. Miss Gates proceeds to elaborate on Cecil Jacobs's article by teaching the class that America is a democracy while Germany is a dictatorship, which explains why Hitler has the absolute authority to enact his ruthless political agenda. Miss Gates then mentions,

"Over here we don’t believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced." (Lee, 249).

Miss Gates's comments are ironic because prejudice is widespread throughout American society, especially in the American south, and African Americans are persecuted by white Americans in her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama. Miss Gates lives in a society where African American citizens are segregated from white citizens and are discriminated against on an everyday basis. Scout immediately becomes aware of Miss Gates's hypocrisy and also recalls her teacher's racist comments leaving the courthouse following the Tom Robinson trial. Overall, Miss Gates's comments are ironic because persecution and prejudice are defining aspects of America's society, and Scout recognizes that her teacher is completely wrong about the social atmosphere of the United States.

According to dictionary.com, "irony (dramatic irony) is a literary techinique by which the full significance of a character's words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character."  

In Chapter 26, Scout has started the third grade, and as an assignment, her teacher, Miss Gates, gives a current events assignment about Hitler. Miss Gates lectures to the class about the persecution of the Jews by Hitler and how atrocious it is to live in a dictatorship. Scout doesn't understand the hypocrisy Miss Gates shows by being sympathetic to the Jews but not the blacks who are persecuted in Maycomb.  She is beginning to see the double standard many whites show in town.   She asks Atticus about it, but doesn't get very far, so she goes to Jem to try to get an explanation.  She asks Jem, "How can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home?"  This is a good lesson for Scout as she is beginning to see the hypocrisy and discrimination so prevelent in Maycomb.  This shows Scout's growth as a person who is consciously aware of the differences in treatment of people.  

As a reader, we understand the dramatic irony of the hypocritical views of Miss Gates as well as the other people of Maycomb.  While Scout is figuring it all out, we as readers have already gotten the message Harper Lee is attempting to send.

What is an example of irony in chapter 27 of To Kill a Mockingbird?

In chapter 27, Bob Ewell loses his job working for Works Progress Administration after he was fired due to laziness. While everyone else in the town had struggled to find a job in the 1930s, Ewell had stayed unemployed and instead lived on welfare checks during the Depression. According to Scout:

Mr. Bob Ewell acquired and lost a job in a matter of days and probably made himself unique in the annals of the nineteen-thirties: he was the only man I ever heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness.

After he is fired, he begins collecting his welfare checks again, and at the welfare office Ewell tells Miss Ruth that Atticus had gotten him fired. Ewell is later humiliated by Atticus, who proves him to be a liar after his testimony contradicts his daughter’s, whose own testimony eventually proves Robinson could not have committed the crime. This is ironic, as the expectations or perceptions of an event are very different from what actually results. Ewell lies about Atticus’s involvement in losing his job, then gets caught in a lie. Ewell lied in an attempt to make himself look better, without realizing he ends up looking like the fool he is known as in town after the trial.

Atticus underestimated Ewell’s capacity for evil. This is ironic, as Ewell is the town fool, known by all to be lazy; he is a racist liar, yet he has the power to accuse Tom Robinson due to his white privilege. This combines the elements of tragedy and irony (tragic irony), as Tom Robinson is eventually gunned down after attempting to escape. The incidences of irony in chapter 27 can be interpreted as contributors to the moral lessons conveyed in the story associated with honesty, justice, and equality; Harper Lee wrote the novel during the Civil Rights movement, in which black people sought to gain equal rights under US law.

Irony can serve a variety of functions; it keeps readers engaged in the reading experience and stay invested in the story; furthers suspense and makes plot points more interesting; creates surprising outcomes and plot twists; provides the reader knowledge, such as character motives or an allegorical lesson.

What are some ironic situations in To Kill a Mockingbird?

"Irony" is a literary element which describes a discrepancy between what a character says or does and what he or she means.

There are numerous instances of irony in Lee's novel. For example, the primary instance of irony is the farce of Democracy and Scout's having to recite the words "WE ARE A DEMOCRACY," with her class at the orders of Miss Gates. The demand is ironic because Scout has just witnessed an innocent man be both convicted of a crime he did not commit and then murdered for not believing in the appeal system. Justice and "democracy" are revealed to Scout as flawed, so this forced recitation is especially ironic:

"Now class, say it all together, "We are a democracy."

We said it. Then miss Gates said, "That's the difference between America and Germany. We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship. Dictator-ship," she said. "Over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Pre-ju-dice," she enunciated carefully. "There are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn't think so is a mystery to me...When you get to high school, Cecil, you'll learn that Jews have been persecuted since the beginning of history...It's one of the most terrible stories in history."

How ironic that Miss Gates doesn't see the prejudice and history of persecution in her own country.

The two main plots in To Kill a Mockingbird concern the mysterious and unseen Boo Radley, and the children's attempts to get a glimpse of him (Part One); and the trial of Tom Robinson (Part Two). Author Harper Lee ties the two plots together at the end of the story when Boo Radley finally makes his first appearance, coming to Jem's and Scout's rescue when Bob Ewell--Tom Robinson's accuser--tries to kill them.

Among the other characters and subplots are:

• Miss Maudie Atkinson, Scout's confidante, whose house burns during an unseasonal snow in Maycomb.
• Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, the meanest lady in the neighborhood, who decides to rid herself of her morphine habit before dying.
• Atticus Finch, Maycomb's finest attorney and representative to the state legislature, who reveals a talent unknown to his children when he kills a mad dog with a single shot between the eyes.
• Aunt Alexanda, Atticus' sister, who decides to come and stay with her brother in Maycomb because Jem and Scout need a more motherly influence in the household.
• Dill Harris, who comes to stay with his Aunt Rachel each summer and spurs Jem's and Scout's interest in Boo.

The biggest irony (which is something that is the opposite of what is expected) is the fact that Boo Radley, a social recluse that hardly anyone has laid eyes on for ages, is the one to come out and help save Jem and Scout from a very intense and dangerous situation.  This particular irony is a very fortunate one.  Another irony associated with this situation is that as Boo sits in the Finch home afterwards, everyone acts as if him being there was totally normal.  They don't completely ignore him, they don't stare, they just go on like he's a normal fixture in the household.  One might expect gaping stares, questions, even fear or aloof disdain.  But, they treat him like the friend that he has turned out to be.

What type of irony is present in a specific example from To Kill a Mockingbird?

Irony is a literary device in which there is a contrast between what is said or done, and what is meant.  Verbal irony is when what is spoken is not meant to be taken literally, or in the case of sarcasm, the meaning is exactly the opposite of what is said.  Situational irony is when what is expected to happen (what would be typical or ordinary) does not happen, or when what happens is completely unexpected.  Dramatic irony is when the audience (or reader) knows something the characters do not know.

To Kill a Mockingbird is full of all three types of irony.  As a narrator, Scout often includes verbal irony in a story of situational irony.  The account of her first day of school in Chapter 2 is a great place to look.  First, it is ironic (situational irony) that the students in the class know more than their teacher, Miss Caroline.  When Scout attempts to politely educate Miss Caroline on Walter Cunningham, for example, it is ironic that Miss Caroline becomes offended and ends up punishing Scout.  Scout's intentions are pure.  So pure, in fact, that she is not even aware that she is offending her teacher, and neither is the class.  When she says, "Walter hasn't got a quarter at home to bring you and you can't use any stovewood," Miss Caroline believes Scout is being rude and probably verbally ironic (or sarcastic), but in fact, she is genuinely concerned and being as polite as possible.