Yulia Kolodiy
Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohiienko National University
Scientific Supervisor: Associate Professor Matkovska M. V.
THE MEANS OF IRONY IN THE NOVELETTE “THREE MEN IN A BOAT
(TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG)” BY JEROME K. JEROME
Abstract
The article focuses on irony, which is considered as a stylistic feature of the text that can be implemented at different language levels. The basis of the study is taken from the novelette of J. Jerome “Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)”. All the discovered cases of irony actualization are analyzed and divided into groups depending on what devices were used to convey it.
Key words: irony, situational irony, semiotics, aesthetics, evaluation, context, language.
The term ‘irony’ dates back to antiquity, around the V century BC. When the effect of ironic statements on a person became an indisputable fact, it was given thorough examination. A number of linguists (A. Baranov, H. Colston, Teun A. van Dijk, W. Kintsch, I. Galperin, R. Gibbs, M. Hartung, B. Homleshko, N. Kulybina, I. Kubyakova), psychologists (D. Long, H. Graesser, E. Bern, V. Byelyanin, N. Chuyich, T. Zhelvatyh) make irony the subject of their research, trying to figure out the very essence of this concept, its root causes and efficiency of its use.
The question of the status of irony in modern literature, its linguistic nature, the mechanics of education to date is one of the most complex and undeveloped, although the first definition of irony was given by Aristotle (“it’s kind of ridiculous when we speak differently than we feel”) [1, p. 83]. This is due to the fact that irony is considered not only as a means or method, but also as one of the components of the aesthetic category of comic – just as it is defined by Aristotle. Thus, irony can be realized in different language sequences – at the level of words and phrases (micro-context), a fragment of the text (macro-context) and the whole product (mega-context), gradually becoming an expressive means of speech to a broad general-semiotic and aesthetic category [2].
Irony plays a vital role in the novelette “Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)” by Jerome K. Jerome and represents an element that contributes most to the overall humorous tone of the novelette. Jerome employs irony mainly to observe and criticize human weaknesses, such as laziness, lying or drinking, to express his or his companions’ attitudes (e.g. to work or food) and to complain about the – natural cussedness of things in general.
The analysis of ironic texts with different types of narration shows that the author’s position is revealed by the same means, but their significance in different texts is unequal. In the texts written in the third person, the character speech and artistic details in the author’s comments are the dominant means of expressing the ironic position. In the texts written in the first person, as in the work of J. Jerome, the dominant means of expressing the ironic position of the author is the author’s broadcasting. The characteristic feature of the story by J. K. Jerome “Three Men in a Boat” is a small amount of means that directly express a negative evaluation. The defining feature of J. Jerome’s style is the implicit transfer of negative evaluation, ridicule, condemnation of the hero and a certain phenomenon.
After analyzing the novelette “Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog)” by Jerome K. Jerome we revealed all cases of realization of irony and divided them into groups depending on what means it is expressed.
The first group includes cases when situational irony is actualized by the method of combination of means the lexical and syntactic levels of the language [3, p.17]. This is a manifestation of one of the important features of the phenomenon of irony, because in order to create an ironic effect, lexical units should flow into syntactic structures of a certain type. For example, at the beginning of the novelette, when the main character recalls his trip to the British Museum, there is a subtle irony in the story of the author: “I felt rather hurt about this at first; it seemed somehow to be a sort of slight. Why hadn’t I got housemaid’s knee? Why this invidious reservation? After a while, however, less grasping feelings prevailed. I reflected that I had every other known malady in the pharmacology, and I grew less selfish, and determined to do without housemaid’s knee” [4, p. 10–11].
Here the situational irony is realized within the macro-context, so it is immediately realized by the reader through the actualization of irony means of both lexical (word, phrase) and syntactic levels. Use of lexical units such as “hurt” and “a sort of slight”, and also rhetorical questions “Why hadn’t I got housemaid’s knee?” and “Why this invidious reservation?”, which implicitly express subjective modality, is not intended to show the despair of the hero that he did not find the signs of another disease, in addition to the whole list of ailments that he has already discovered, but rather ironic the attitude of the hero to the state of his health. In these lines there can be traced a sense of doom and complete lack of hope. The phrase “invidious reservation” is transmitted by translators as discrimination. This word is a legal term. Getting into the wrong, ‘alien’ context, this stylistic theme conveys the ironic attitude of the hero to the depicted one.
A separate group consists of cases where situational irony is implemented at the syntactic level using plug-in structures [3, p. 207]. Let’s illustrate this with an episode where the main characters planned his journey: George said: “Let’s go up the river”. “He said we should have fresh air, exercise and quiet; the constant change of scene would occupy our minds (including what there was of Harris’s); and the hard work would give us a good appetite, and make us sleep well” [4, p. 19].
Here insert proposal sentence “including what there was of Harris’s” implements the situational irony at the syntactic level. Contrast matching of the statement with the embedded sentence changes its semantics, gives the text of a subjective-evaluative modality – a ridicule, a covert ridicule over Harris, because, judging by the words of the hero, his friend’s head is rarely occupied by any thoughts.
Particularly interesting, in my opinion, are cases where situational irony is actualized by means of the lexical language level, in particular when using oxymoron. Let us consider the episode, which describes the wanderings of the main characters in search of overnight. All the institutions were crowded, and only one grandmother kindly offered to hold them to his friend, who sometimes rents the room: “This old woman walked very slowly, and we were twenty minutes getting to her lady friend’s. She enlivened the journey by describing to us, as we trailed along, the various pains she had in her back”
[4, p. 135].
The visual meaning of the word “enliven” (‘make something more entertaining, interesting, or appealing’) – in this context, it acquires a sharply opposite color, since the author aims to say that the three comrades were not interested in listening to these stories; they are tired of them.
We have identified a separate group of cases where irony is realized by means of transposition of syntactic structures (these sentences can be called indirect statements, because their formal plan of expression does not coincide with the plan of content). For example, consider the following episode: “I took my ticket, and marched proudly up the platform, with my cheeses, the people falling back respectfully on either side” [4, p. 39].
The means of irony being actualized in this context is the transposition of the syntactic structure, because the selected sentence has a completely different meaning. The implicit meaning is: people on the platform quickly parted in front of the hero, since nobody could stand the terrible smell of cheese, which he carried. It is necessary to single out the irony expressed with the help of structural syntactic convergence, in which the ironic effect occurs due to the assembly, the increase of expression. For example, at the beginning of the third chapter, the author recalls his uncle Podger, who raised the fuss in the house; he had to take up any business: “Oh, you leave that to me. Don’t you, any of you, worry yourselves about that. I’ll do all that.” And then he would take off his coat, and begin. He would send the girl out for sixpen’orth of nails, and then one of the boys after her to tell her what size to get; and, from that, he would gradually work down, and start the whole house” [4, p. 29].
In this case, the ironic meaning is created in two stages: the generalizing word “begin” promises description of effective working process of uncle Podger, but the following sentence reveals such its content, which is completely opposite to expectation of the reader. The author expresses a hidden mockery at the inability of his uncle to bring to mind any matter, citing an example from everyday life of his family.
In addition, in order to enhance the ironic effect in the work, along with the main means, an allusion was adopted (“they’re a-going to find Stanley” [4, p. 55]) and also oxymoron (“before we jolly well all got drowned” [4, p. 142]; and “all went merry as a funeral bell” [4, p. 39]) here an ironic sense arises due to the combination of contrasting concepts, resulting in a new semantic quality, an unexpected expressive effect; “The pool under Sanford lasher, just behind the lock, is a very good place to drown yourself in”
[4, p. 206] a dangerous place to drown easily, ironically named by the author (like a very good place) [4, p. 206]. The occasional metaphor in the latter case contributes to creating irony on the syntactic level.
Thus, the means of actualization of situational irony in the novelette are: transposition of syntactic structures, which is realized by means of indirect statements (35 %); means of lexical language level – words and phrases (23 %); inserted constructions (19 %); combination of means of lexical and syntactic language levels (17 %); rhetorical questions (6 %).
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