1. Irony Essay
How to Begin

2. The Prompt
Essay prompt: How does irony create excitement in literature?
All essays begin with some kind of question or “prompt” from the teacher. The goal is to answer the prompt in the essay.
What needs to be “proven” in this essay?

3. The Thesis Statement
Essay prompt: How does irony create excitement in literature?
Q: How do you create a thesis statement out of an essay prompt?
A: One strategy is to turn the essay prompt into your thesis by twisting the question into a statement.

4. Sample Thesis Stmts.
The literary device irony can cause excitement in the reader of literature.
Authors use irony to add to the excitement of a story in literature.
Authors of literature add excitement to a reader’s experience using irony.
When reading literature, the excitement level is enhanced through an author’s use of irony.
Through the use of irony, an author of literature can create excitement in the reader.

5. A Good Thesis
No matter your topic sentence, you should aim to include these items:
The word irony
The word “excitement”
The phrase “literary device”
The idea that the author is using irony to accomplish something
The idea that the reader is the one experiencing excitement
Compose TWO possible thesis statements now

6. “Excitement”? Come on …
In this essay, “excitement” doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re happy and jumping out of your seat. Excitement can also mean a heightened emotion, regardless of what the emotion is. So when you’re surprised that Rainsford jumps out from behind the curtain, and you know he’s going to face off with Zaroff, the tension and excitement level rise. In other words, the situational irony causes your reading experience to become more intensified due to your emotional response to the story. That emotional intensification is “excitement.”

7. Selecting Stories to Use
In the homework, you wrote about four cases of irony. Now you must choose the two cases you understand best to include in your essay.
Read over your four explanations and select the two you think you understand best.

8. Topic Sentences
Topic sentences control the content of the paragraphs. This essay will contain two body paragraphs with the general content of:
Story 1 with irony, and how the irony works to enhance excitement
Story 2 with irony, and how the story works to enhance excitement

9. Topic Sentences, cont’d.
In an essay, topic sentences not only control the content of paragraphs, they also must support the overall thesis statement. This is illustrated with examples on the next slide.

10. Thesis/Topic Sentence Relationship
Thesis: Through the use of irony, an author of literature can create excitement in the reader.
Now the proof must be given from actual stories to show that excitement can be enhanced.
Topic sentences:
Guy de Maupassant, in his story “The Necklace”, uses situational irony to enhance the intensity of emotion experienced by the reader.
In the story “The Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, the author employs dramatic irony to heighten the tension level in the reader.

11. Topic Sentences, cont’d.
Topic sentences in this essay will contain these elements:
Author name
Story title
The claim that the use of irony in the story heightens the reader’s excitement or intensifies the reader’s emotions

12. Write Two Topic Sentences
Further examples:

13. Using Your Homework
Each body paragraph will have this general outline:
Topic sentence
RDF in the form of summary from the story (#3 on your homework)
E in the form of explanation (#4 on your homework)

14. Adding the RDF
Choose one of the topic sentences you wrote and find the questions that correspond to it on your irony homework.
Transfer your summary (question #3) from the homework to the position underneath your topic sentence.
Because your original summary of the part of the story where irony appears is between 2 and 3 sentences long, your paragraph will already have four sentences when you add the summary to your topic sentence!

15. Example TS > RDF
TS: Guy de Maupassant, in his story “The Necklace”, uses situational irony to enhance the intensity of emotion experienced by the reader.
RDF: Near the end of the story, Mme. Loisel comes across Mme. Forestier in a park. Because the Loisels are now poor due to years repaying the debts associated with replacing Mme Forestier’s necklace, Mme. Loisel decides to reveal the truth: the necklace returned to Mme. Forestier was not the original. When Mme. Loisel reveals that she and her husband are now poor because of their efforts to replace the lost original, Mme. Forestier reveals that the original, in fact, was not made of genuine stones.

16. Adding the “E” Explanation
Question #4 on your homework explains the irony in the story. It is therefore an “E”
At this point, you can transfer your answer to question #4 to the position just under where you finished the RDF.

17. Sample “E” Explanation
The situational irony occurs in the difference between what the reader expects and what is revealed in the final scene. No indication is ever given that the original necklace is a fake, so the reader believes what the Loisels believe: it is genuine. The reader sees the Loisels sacrifice their lives to repay the debts of the replacement necklace, so when the necklace is finally paid off, we believe the relief was worth all the effort. However, when Mme. Forestier reveals that the original was a fake, we realize that all of the work we thought was valuable is in fact worthless. The truth is that the Loisels worked to pay off a fake.

18. The Final Key Ingredient
You explained the irony, but you have to make it clear how this irony affects the reader’s emotions.
The key: You must state clearly whether the irony caused an unexpected surprise or created increased tension.

19. Sample Key Ingredient
The surprise from Mme. Forestier at the end causes the reader to feel sudden shock. The reader’s relief that they are not in the Loisels’ shoes is an intensified emotional response to the story. The surprise caused by the irony brings about that increased excitement.

20. Final Tally of Sentences
Topic sentence: 1
RDF (summary): at least 2
E (explanation): at least 3
Final Key: at least 1
Minimum total per paragraph: 7