Here is my Essay.
Kyle Chu
………
English 100
8 June 2024
Placeholder title >:(
Irony is a literary device of much significance, it surprises readers through its inversion, thus exposing a completely different reality that contrasts initial aspects and underlying arrogance. Good use of these tools can engage and inform while providing depth to what may seem to be a simple story in the beginning. Besides the numerous literary devices people can employ, irony remains one of the well-known tools that can entertain and make people think harder, leaving a long-lasting impression. This faceted ability is adorned in the works of  Flannery O'Connor and George Orwell, for example, in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Shooting an Elephant”. These two literary works, each with many riddles, form the basis of comparative analysis, showing how irony can be used to contemplate global issues, such as human nature, morality, and social pressure. Through investigation into the specifics and outcomes of ironic plot devices for characters, and readers alike, this essay will aim at uncovering major themes and underlying questions using irony in these stories. The goal is to examine the two texts’ irony uses that reflect similarities and differences in their arrangement and impact, to show how this approach can add to the overall understanding.
	Even though in their stories, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner and “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, irony is used to confront the reader and touch upon the matter of moral choice, their different methods hint at contrast things which are either the criticism of society or the search of what is good in the person.
	This long essay starts by considering the situational irony common to the two stories, analyzing how the sad state of characters confines them in a web of circumstances that lead them into a state of confusion. To begin with, this long essay will observe the role of dramatic irony that is employed to amplify the strain provoked by societal pressure and honor. Then the conversation will go into verbal irony, which is used to reveal the dark side of social norms and the fate of the characters. Finally, this analysis combines what is observed in history, highlighting how irony improves history and provides a wide range of explorations of moral, social pressure, and human shortcomings in these two stories.
	This situational irony in both of these stories, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Shooting the Elephant” is shown through inner arguments and the cases of moral dilemma that our main characters will face. This proposes that there are way bigger problems and different results forming. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the situational irony unravels as the family, attempting to steer clear of an escaped convict known as the Misfit, actually ends up crossing paths with him, resulting in their tragic deaths. This stroke of irony has an effect not only of reversing the grandmother’s plan but also of being a tool through which the author depicts the flaw in her idea of morality, gracefulness, and redemption. Her final act of mercy where she acknowledges The Misfit as one of her children grazes on some very profound notions about the nature of goodness and the idea of salvation which introduces the headlining theme of the story.
Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” develops through the ironic events that cause the narrator, a British police officer stationed in Burma, to shoot an elephant he wishes to save, solely to preserve the expectations of authority and control before the local public. This situation gave rise to a kind of criticism dubbed cleftstick that shows the effects of colonization and social norms.  on us and as a whole. The elephant’s unfortunate death cast an even bleaker shadow on the policeman’s moral and emotional deliberates. His predicament between carrying on with the duty and the societal expectations brought to light the bitter lesson that everything comes with a price, especially in the skilled world. This use of dramatic irony in these two narratives ups the stories to a level of suspense. 
	This suspense results from the disparities between the characters' perceptions of things and what happens later, which however serves different thematic goals in the texts.  In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” The Misfit escape is foreshadowed by a small crumb of knowledge that our protagonists are oblivious about. This piece of knowledge forms a background of foreboding against the grandmother’s irrelevant remarks on morality and goodness. This example of dramatic irony, therefore, doesn’t only sharpen the immortal tragic ending but also smartly criticizes a superficial morality and a self-righteous view of society, as presented by the grandmother, in turn swinging the narrative towards genuine morality as opposed to perceived perfection. In “Shooting an Elephant”, the drama irony lies in the stark contrast between the imperial regime the narrator condemns in his inner discourse and his behavior which supports it, the consequence of Burmese public opinion, so he will not break the colonial laws. The chasm between the hero's inner conviction and action strengthens the tragedy in the story and articulates a severe criticism against imperialism and the psychical and ethical rifts created among the enforcers of it. While the reader's perception of the narrator's indecisiveness is sharpened she/he simultaneously discovers the ill effects of societal and imperial pressures.
	Verbal irony is utilized in these two stories as a sort of social satire, not only to darken the norms but also to lay the bad points of the characters, resulting in a fruitful ground for the many themes and messages, although through different narrative strategies and results. Using the grandmother’s texts in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” O'Connor emphasizes verbal irony when her judgments contradict her actions which are not compassionate or righteous, unveiling her mask and showing how selfish and how much of a hypocrite she is. Through the use of verbal irony, not only the thinness and hypocrisy of societal moral code is ridiculed but deeper values of true goodness and the ability to acquire grace and redemption despite human weakness are questioned, the author wonders if real moral transformation is possible in the face of human “blows”, bad spots, and sins. There is a large volume of verbal irony in the book; it can be probably discerned in the protagonist’s estimations and thoughts such as when complains about the absurdity of the whole undertaking of the empire and his role in it saying that shooting the elephant was “done solely to avoid looking a fool”. The author's half-hearted reflections, rich in verbal irony, try to show that there is a certain inhumanity inside colonialism and there are some incredible rationalizations found in individuals who are involved in colonialism, these rationalizations are used nonetheless amidst the oversized problem of dissonance of the roles involved in colonized oppression and the ethics of each individual. Employing the narrator’s humorous comments, Orwell emphasizes the phenomenon called cognitive dissonance induced by imperialism, thus paying attention to the moral hardships as well as the ethical doubts of the individuals involved in the imperialist web.
	The irony used by Flannery O’Connor in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and George Orwell in “Shooting an Elephant” is a moral standpoint on the issue of moral quandaries, social pressures, and how to construct personal integrity. While O’Connor utilizes this technique to dig down the themes of redemption, grace, and real good in the same manner, Orwell uses it as an indicator of the misfortunes of imperialism and the destruction it causes on personal ethics and social solidarity. Appreciating O'Connor and Orwell's using irony as a lens helps us to analyze their writing skills but also understand the long-term relevance of their themes. Thus, with their job ironic language provides the reality that is deep and weird to express the essence of human beings.

What would be a good title? I cant think of one