1. Verbal, Dramatic, & Situational The Monsters are Due on Maple Street
Irony
Verbal, Dramatic, & Situational
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

2. What is irony?
Irony is the use of words to express something different from, and often opposite to, their literal meaning.
There are 3 types of irony
Verbal
Dramatic
Situational

3. Verbal Irony
A word or phrase is used to suggest the opposite of its usual meaning.
Examples: Sarcasm
“The locker room smells really good.”
“Awesome! Another homework packet!”

4. Dramatic Irony
Occurs when there is a difference between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows.
Example:
When watching a talk show, the audience knows why a person has been brought on the show. However, the person sitting in a chair does not know that he is going to be reunited with a former flame.

5. Situational Irony The mayor’s wife gets caught stealing.
Occurs when the reader, audience, or character expect one thing to happen, but the opposite does instead.
Examples:
The mayor’s wife gets caught stealing.
You stay up all night studying for a test. When you go to class, you discover the test isn’t until the next day.

6. Why do writers use irony?
Irony inverts our expectations. It can create the unexpected twist at the end of a joke or a story.
Verbal irony tends to be funny.
Dramatic irony is often tragic.
Situational irony can be funny or tragic.

7. Let’s play… Which Type of Irony is This?

8. Which type of irony is this?
As your teacher is signing detention forms for students who did not complete their homework, she says in an irritated voice, “I just love when students don’t do their homework!”
Verbal Irony
Alex writes a love poem to Judy, but we know that Judy really loves Devin, not Alex.
Dramatic Irony

9. Which type of irony is this?
Verbal irony

10. What type of irony is this?
Verbal Irony

11. Which type of irony is this?
Situational Irony

12. Which type of irony is this?
Tom has always liked Lucy, but Lucy has always thought Tom was annoying and unattractive. One day, Lucy comes home to find an eviction notice on her door. Apparently, her roommate had been spending the rent money that Lucy was giving her on other things. Lucy only has 24 hours to get all her stuff over to her mom’s house, and Lucy doesn’t even have a car. But Tom has a truck. So Lucy calls up Tom and asks him how he’s doing. She tells him that she’s always thought he was funny, and that they should hang out sometime. Tom thinks that Lucy has finally come around and is beginning to like him. He also thinks that his jokes are funny because she is laughing after everything that he says.
Dramatic Irony

13. Which type of irony is this?
The rapper Eminem is well-known for his song writing ability, but he is equally known for his shockingly profane and obscene lyrical content. Eminem has made a fortune selling his curse filled songs to millions of children around the world. But, on a 60 Minutes interview, Eminem claimed that there was no swearing in his own home and that his children were not allowed to play music with curse words, including his own tracks.
Situational irony

14. What type of irony is this?
Verbal Irony

15. What type of irony is this?
Dramatic Irony

16. Which type of irony is this?
Situational Irony

17. Which type of irony is this?
Situational irony

18. Which type of irony is this?
A thief’s house was broken into at the same time he was robbing someone’s house.
Situational irony

19. Which type of irony is this?
Dramatic irony

20. Which type of irony is this?
The name of Britain’s largest dog is “Tiny.”
Verbal irony

21. Which type of irony is this?
A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.
Situational irony

22. ASSESSMENT
Write down the type of irony present on a piece of notebook paper (#1-10).

23. Which type of irony is this? 1/10
Your mom walks into your filthy bedroom and says, “I see you’ve cleaned your room!”

24. Which type of irony is this? 2/10

25. Which type of irony is this? 3/10

26. Which type of irony is this? 4/10
You wake up in the morning with the conviction that this is going to be a wonderful day. When you step out the door, you slip on a patch of ice and break both of your legs.

27. Which type of irony is this? 5/10

28. Which type of irony is this? 6/10
A person tweets about how Twitter is a complete waste of time and energy.

29. Irony in The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

30. Which irony is present? 7/10
When Charlie asks who Steve talks to on his radio set, Steve replies, “How come you’re so dense all of a sudden. Who do I talk to? I talk to monsters from outer space. I talk to three-headed green men who fly over here in what look like meteors.”

31. Which irony is present? 8/10
Charlie shoots Pete Van Dorn because he thought he was an alien.

32. Which irony is present? 9/10
When the neighbors start accusing Steve, he says, “Let’s pick out every idiosyncrasy of every single man, woman, and child on the street. And then we might as well set up some kind of kangaroo court. How about a firing squad at dawn, Charlie, so we can get rid of all the suspects?

33. Which irony is present? 10/10
At the end of the play, the reader finds out that two figures in a space craft really were causing the power outages, but the residents of Maple Street continue to blame each other.

34. ANSWERS Verbal irony Verbal irony; dramatic irony Dramatic irony
Situational irony

35. Purpose of Irony in Monsters…
What was the purpose of the irony in the play?
How did irony impact the story line?
A: The situational and dramatic irony helped to add suspense to the play by keeping readers on their toes and shocking us with unexpected events. The verbal irony helped to emphasize how irrational the people were being.

36. “Identifying Irony” Worksheet
Now, it’s your turn
Independently complete the “Identifying Irony” worksheet. Carefully read each passage, identify the type of irony present, and explain your answer.
“Identifying Irony” Worksheet