could this situation has been
handied differently?
Answers
Answer:
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Answer: Perhaps one of the most frequently confused literary terms is irony. The history of its meaning lies in the Greek comic figure Eiron, who repeatedly relies upon his wit to prevail over his bumptious counterpart. In present day, however, the term has come to describe situations in which the actuality of an action is different from what one expects to happen (situational) or when the way in which a speaker implies a statement’s meaning starkly contrasts the meaning that is ostensibly expressed (verbal). There are varying forms of irony, but the easiest way to ascertain if something is ironic is to determine whether what actually happens differs from your expectations. For example, it is ironic when, in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film Dr. Strangelove; or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, President Merkin Muffley, while in a room full of military generals trying to avoid nuclear war, exclaims to two of his confrontational colleagues, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.”
Coincidence
Often mistaken for irony, the term coincidence involves a great deal of luck, or chance. Merriam-Webster defines it as “a situation in which events happen at the same time in a way that is not planned or expected.” For example, it’s a coincidence that Becky and Suzy, archrivals desperately vying for the status of prom queen, enter the ball sporting the exact same dress, whereas, it would be deemed ironic if, at the same dance, mousy outcast Jane is instead voted prom queen, thus demonstrating an entirely unexpected outcome. The bottom line to be taken away from this example is that coincidence is the occurrence of one or more events that are unexpected but, more importantly, that are completely reliant upon luck while irony describes singular events in which the outcome is the exact contrary to what one might expect.
Metonymy
This term’s provenance hails from Greece and literally means “change of name,” or “misnomer.” It is a descriptive figure of speech far more common in everyday speech than most are probably aware. When you hear a British citizen refer to “the crown,” you know that person to be talking about the monarch in the same way that you understand a disgruntled actor to be admonishing the entire film industry when he complains about the harsh realities of “Hollywood.” In these examples, the crown stands in for the monarch and Hollywood is substituted for the film industry as a whole. Essentially, metonymy occurs when a speaker refers to an object, person, or institution by something that is, and typically has been, closely associated with it. The overall goal of its use is to provide a genuine image in the reader or listener’s mind for generally abstract concepts.
Synecdoche
Like metonymy, the term synecdoche also stems from Greek. It translates literally to “taking together.” Now, this is where it gets a bit sticky: synecdoche uses a part of something to stand in for a whole. But, wait a minute, isn’t that exactly what metonymy does? The answer is yes and no. Yes, in that it uses parts of, or things associated with, a whole. No, in that they are usually used for different purposes.
Metaphor
Perhaps the most commonly used literary device, the term metaphor is defined as “an elaborate or fanciful way of expressing something,” in which that “something” can be absolutely anything from the weather (“it’s raining cats and dogs”) to the entire world, as the Bard once famously penned, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Simply put, a metaphor is a direct substitution of one concept or object for another, with the goal to draw a comparison between the two concepts or objects. The use of the metaphor forces a reader to actively engage with what is being said in order to understand in what ways the concepts are related so that he or she can see the subject in an entirely new light.
Symbol
Another commonly used and yet confused literary device, a symbol stands for something. Symbols and metaphors are easily mixed up because both, in effect, stand in for another idea or object. However, it’s usually the case that symbols stand in for more abstract concepts or institutions and are presented in different ways than metaphors. An easy example is the flag of the United States. People see it and immediately think of the White House or Declaration of Independence, because it has come to be associated with those things in the same way that the French flag conjures images of the Eiffel Tower or the wide countryside of France. In literature, one of the best-known symbols is Hester Prynne’s scarlet “A” that she’s forced to wear throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s iconic novel, The Scarlet Letter. The symbol evolves through the novel and comes to stand for a plethora of concepts, first and foremost adultery and then, as Prynne’s perception of her “crime” changes, she and readers see it as a symbol for “angel.”