Question

irony detectives activity
directions: read the following crime related ironic passages. using the irony detectives answer sheet,
determine which type of irony is used each passage based on clues that you find, then make your case.
1 assault and battery
annie allen loved her fiancé scott. annie loved him so much that he was all that she thought about all
day. feeling particularly in love with scott, annie thought that shed surprise him with romance, so she
snuck into his house using the spare key under his doormat and waited in his room for him to come
home from a business trip. while waiting for him to come home, she thought the surprise might be even
better if she hid in his closet. so she did. twenty minutes later, she heard keys rustling in the lock. the
door slammed, and then she heard the sound of feet walking up the stairs and scott’s voice. “you know
i cant wait to see you, baby,” she thought she heard scott say. he must be leaving me a message,
annie pleasantly thought to herself. then she heard scott continue to talk. “no, shes nothing serious.
and besides, you know youre the one i love, katie.” annies heart dropped. she grabbed the pepper
spray from out of her purse, unlatched the safety, and felt her hand tense on the release button. scott
walked into the room, smiling and laughing as he flirted with katie on the phone.
2 reckless endangerment
swanson wisconsin was a famous child star. she had several platinum selling albums, her own tv
sitcom, and a series of straight - to - dvd films that received terrible reviews but sold really well.
swanson wisconsin was extremely wealthy and had the respect and admiration of millions of boys and
girls around the world. she was everywhere. she was even the face of the antidrug movement.
swanson wisconsin appeared on several commercials, billboards, and bus advertisements telling young
people not to use drugs. all over the country the message was heard: “be like swanson wisconsin
think up. dont get high.” one fateful december evening, swanson wisconsin crashed her bentley
into hotdog stand. no one was injured, but swanson wisconsin was extremely disorientated. at the
hospital, blood tests revealed that swanson wisconsin had enough crystal meth, cocaine, and
tranquilizers in her system to murder an elephant.
3 breaking and entering
jimmy the lock was a master safecracker. he could bust open any safe in the world in under an hour
using a crow bar, stethoscope, drill, and sledgehammer. no lock could hold jimmy and thats why they
called him the lock. jimmy was scheduled to do a six - year stretch in the can for a bank job that got
messy. but he checked himself out before they could slam the cell door. now that he was on the lamb,
jimmy set up the score of his life. he had the blueprints all laid out to do a job on an armored diamond
delivery car. jimmy gathered all his tools and headed out the door to meet his contact, bobby the rat.
when he got to his car, jimmy couldnt find his keys. he patted his pockets before he realized that he
must have left them in his other thieving - pants. so jimmy went back to get his keys, but the door
wouldnt open. jimmy the lock had locked himself out of his house.
4 grand theft auto
jack was on his way home from work when his wife jill called him. he was in a hurry to get home and
watch his favorite show, cops, but jill said that he needed to stop at the minimart to get some bread for
dinner. jack replied dutifully to his wife, “yes, dear.” when he got to the minimart, jack was in such a
hurry that he didnt even pull into a parking spot. he just pulled up right next to the door. it was 6:58,
and cops was starting in two minutes, so jack just left his car running and ran into the store. he
grabbed the bread from the middle aisle and got in the line behind a skinny guy wearing a leather jacket.
jack tapped his foot impatiently as the man purchased lottery tickets. finally, the clerk rang up jack
right as jacks watch read 6:59. jack hurriedly completed the transaction and ran outside. as he went to
jump into his car, he noticed that it was gone. he looked around a bit, but it was no where in sight.
“great,” jack sighed. his watch read 7:01. “how wonderful,” he said to himself, as he reached in his
pocket to call his wife.

Explanation:

The problem involves analyzing irony in crime - related passages, which falls under the subfield of Literature (within Arts) as it deals with literary analysis of text, specifically identifying types of irony in written narratives.

Answer:

Literature (under Arts)