Question

excerpt from \the danger of lying in bed\ by mark twain i hunted up statistics, and was amazed to find that after all the glaring newspaper headlines concerning railroad disasters, less than three hundred people had really lost their lives by those disasters in the preceding twelve months. the erie road was set down as the most murderous in the list. it had killed forty - six -- or twenty - six, i do not exactly remember which, but i know the number was double that of any other road. but the fact straightway suggested itself that the erie was an immensely long road, and did more business than any other line in the country; so the double number of killed ceased to be matter for surprise. which literary device is in this passage from \the danger of lying in bed\? situational irony - when the opposite of what you expect actually happens repetition - a word or phrase used multiple times to make a point metaphor - a comparison of two unlike things without using \like\ or \as\

Explanation:

The passage presents a contrast between initial expectation and reality: the Erie road has double the fatalities of other roads, but this is not surprising because it is longer and busier. This mismatch between expected concern (over higher fatalities) and actual lack of surprise (due to context) fits situational irony. Repetition (no repeated key words/phrases) and metaphor (no direct comparison of unlike things without "like"/"as") are absent.

Answer:

situational irony - when the opposite of what you expect actually happens