The Irony of Stasis -- and Vice Versa

My wife teases me about my desire for stasis. She's should. 

I'm not opposed to change. I simply like things to be where I'm used to finding them. Unfortunately, at times I'm fanatic about pro-stasis. Seriously. Do NOT move my cheese. 

One day Wifey-mine had a home-improvement project in mind. Paint the living room. Innocently, she broached the subject over breakfast.

"Paint the living room? Sure," I said, gumming my oatmeal and slurping my orange juice. 

I stopped short. "Wait!  That means you'll have to move the furniture!"

My neck broke out. My eyes twitched. Breaths became short and labored. I slid off my chair, crawled across the floor, crouched in the corner, and mumbled vague and muffled obscenities. 

My wife rolled her eyes and shook her head disgustedly. Finally, she brought me a slice of bologna, a slab of chocolate, and an oversized and overstuffed plush Eeyore. I was momentarily mollified.

"Go to the library," she sighed. "Or take a nap. I'll be done in a couple hours."

Obviously, I want stasis. I demand stasis. I LOVE STASIS!

Which ironically brings me to the subject today. One of my favorite literary devices. Irony. 

I love irony. Even more than stasis.

Few elements you can use in your writing have the impact than irony does. It's even more gasp-inducing than finding your couch in the kitchen. When your audience encounters an unexpected event in your story, whether they want to or not, they have to stop and think, "What the..?" Kind of like when I ran across Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote above. 

Browsing through Brainy Quotes today (Doesn't everybody?), I stumbled across these words and smiled: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." I briefly digested and nodded smugly. 

"Of course," I thought. "Write what you think, not what somebody else already said."

Then I read the words again. This time I did a mental spit take and blurted, “Huh?”

After wiping the slobber from my lips, I adjust the laptop angle and began talking to myself. "You hate quotations? Ralph Waldo Emerson, the King of Quotes, hates quotations? What?"

That may sound overstated, but consider this. Here is one of the most cited writers/speakers in American history telling us he had not time for quotations. Maybe he should have shut the heck up so there wouldn't be 14 million entries of him on Brainy Quotes! Why, I oughta...

But I digress. 

Look at what happened here. Emerson could have simply said be original, but the irony of such an oft-recounted sage saying "I hate quotations" affected the reader –– at least this one ––  more profoundly than would the simple words "Be original."

So as somebody who relishes words and thoughts, I love irony. I love hearing it. I love reading it. I love writing it. And you should, too.

At least as a writer.

Before you go off on a bent, however, it would be prudent to consider what irony is. Dictionary.com defines the term first as “the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.” Most of us recognize this verbal irony as sarcasm, which is in itself, a form of irony. But irony is more than snark and nastiness.

The on-line definition goes on to say that it is also “an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected,” what we called situational irony in English class.

We are also informed about dramatic irony, when the reader knows something the character doesn't, and Socratic irony, which is a form of questioning used to lead a listener to reach a conclusion he didn't expect. 

The main element in all of these definitions is the contradiction between reality and expectations. The whole contradiction concept is what makes irony so striking. 

When a character says the opposite of what the reader expects to hear, the words reveal a multitude of layers to that character’s personality. 

When a character does the unexpected, even just once, he/she entices to reader to enter the psychologist/concerned-parent mode to analyze that person's motivations and to predict future behavior.

When the opposite of what is anticipated happens, the reader wants to understand why, what did he/she miss, and what could possibly happen next.

In sportsman terms,  exposition is the bait used to entice the readers, irony is the hook, and  the rest of the story is used to reel in their attention. Irony is great stuff for catching fish...er..readers.

The use of irony is not without its dangers, however. It is often easy to strain credibility, particularly with actions and situations, which can lose more readers than it captures. 

Before having a mother convince her teenager to eat his brussels sprouts by telling him they're candy, be sure establish the adolescent's gullibility, the mother's sadism, and the recipe that could cause a person to actually fall for such a vile deception.

Before having a three-year-old rescue a planeload of Green Bay Packers fans on their way to Hawaii by landing a 747 on an aircraft carrier, it is best to work out the details that could make such an event even plausible. (Good luck with that.)

Before you fall for Alanis Morissette's contention that somehow it is ironic to have rain on your wedding day, you may want consult the millions of brides that have had to dodge mud puddles on the way from the church to their escape limo. Find out just how unexpected rain is in relation to matrimonial ceremonies. In other words, to use irony, know what it is.

But all those dangers aside, remember that irony is one of the most effective ways of engaging and maintaining your audiences. 

Who knows? It may even get you on Brainy Quotes like Ralph Waldo Emerson. It could change your life!

And mess up your stasis.

Maybe that's a good thing. Definitely better than eating brussels sprouts disguised as candy.