Another important element is irony - when something happens, or is seen, or
is heard that we may know, but the characters do not, or that appears
opposite of what is expected. Some examples of irony include:
1. It is ironic that the first thing Jeannette's Mom begins to
talk about is Picasso. She is homeless and finds food in dumpsters.
2. Jeannette's mother disapproves of her hum chewing and calls
it a low-class habit. They are low-class people.
3. It is ironic that Mom tells Jeannette after she's burned,
You don't have to worry anymore, baby. You're safe now. The place she's
least safe is with her parents.
4. There is also the irony that Dad teaches Jeannette how to
stand up against the monsters and not show them fear while he becomes
a monster himself by destroying the kittens he no longer wants to care
for.
5. Ironically, when the kids nearly fall out of the back of the
truck, Jeannette never passes judgment against her parents. In fact, with
great maturity, she recognizes that her father's anger is rooted in his
fear for them.
6. It's ironic that a family that is always on the move now is
living in a railroad depot.
7. Jeannette and Brian mix some discarded chemicals and throw
in a match. They are knocked to their feet and the walls of the shack
where they have mixed their brew catch on fire. Jeannette yells that they
have to get out, but Brian keeps trying to put the fire out. Ironically,
Dad happens to be walking home from work at the time and gets them both
out.
8. Mom's students who are considered to be problem children or
mentally slow begin doing well under Mom's teaching.
9. After fear of arrest sends the family in the run, they end
up in Phoenix in comfortable surroundings. Mom says, with irony, So the
trouble you kids got into with Billy Deel was actually a blessing in disguise.
10. Jeannette points out that many of the people in their neighborhood
are weird. This is ironic, because there is no family more weird than
the Walls family.
11. After Mom and the girls are caught shoplifting and have to
pay for the item they were going to steal, Mom calls it highway robbery!
12. Mom first observes that things have gone downhill a little
since they had last been in Welch, but she grins when she realizes that
there probably aren't any other career artists who live there and her
career can no doubt take off in Welch.
13. The principal in Welch has an accent that is so thick that
Mom has to translate for the kids, and then he can't understand the kids'
accent. As a result, he places them in special classes for students with
learning disabilities and they had been in the gifted program at their
previous school.
14. The girls at school beat Jeannette up for being poor when
some of them are even poorer than she is.
15. When Erma molests Brian, Dad is incapable of protecting his
children as a result of his past, and it is Lori and Jeannette who come
to Brian's defense.
16. Ginnie Sue doesn't look like any of the whores Jeannette
knew in Phoenix and California. She looks just like any other Mom.
17. After Jeannette sees he first thermostat, she is so impressed
and amazed that for many nights afterwards, she dreams that all they have
to do to fill their house with that clean warm heat is to move a little
lever.
18. As for Dad after Erma dies, he seems more distraught than
Jeannette has ever seen him. This surprises her, because Erma had seemed
to have an evil hold over him, and she thinks he should be glad she's
gone.
19. Ironically, Jeannette was cool as a cucumber when she stole
the watch from Bercker's, and now she is terrified that someone will catch
her putting it back.
20. Lori climbs into the car and is gone, never looking back.
Dad is standing on the porch, smoking a cigarette. He makes only one comment,
This family is falling apart. Ironically, it has been falling apart
for years.
21. When Jeannette gets home, Dad is so eager to hear all about
the interview with Chuck Yeager that he is even sober.
22. The guidance counselor tells Jeannette, To leave West Virginia,
even to leave Welch, will be unthinkably disloyal, like deserting your
family. For years, this has been the best thing that could happened to
these kids.
23. The political science professor is outraged and asks Jeannette,
What do you know about the hardships and obstacles that the underclass
faces? She doesn't realize Jeannette has lived in that class all her
life.
24. For a while, Jeannette feels very guilty about staying in
college while Mom and Dad are on the streets. More than that, she feels
incredibly selfish. This ironic because her parents never felt bad about
keeping their children homeless and hungry.
25. Dad has become most interested in Mitchell Feigenbaum, who
says that in chaos theory, disorder actually conforms to a rational pattern,
which implies the existence of a divine creator. Ironically, he says that
if this is all true, he may have to re-think his atheistic creed.
26. Dad and Mom are beginning the third year of homelessness,
and Jeannette has come to accept that this is the way it is going to be.
Mom blames it all on the city. They make it too easy to be homeless.
If it was really unbearable, we'd do something different.
27. Jeannette loves a behind-the-scenes column, because she wants
to let the world know that no one has a perfect life, and yet she cannot
brings herself to tell anyone the truth about her own parents.
28. But despite all the hell raising and destruction and chaos Dad created in their lives, Jeannette cannot imagine what her life will be like . . . without him. As awful as he can be, she has always known he loves her in a way no one else ever has.
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone".
TheBestNotes.com.
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