Irony

Question

Hello,
can you explain me the irony of the following sentence, please.

On New Year´s Eve Will Power makes the decision to give up smoking forever.

How must I change the sentence to say it without irony.
Thanks a lot!

Chris · Accepted Answer

It depends which way you would like to say it! I suppose what you mean to say is - 'Will Power' = fighting against the urge rather than Will Power (Mr Will Power!!!)

What concerns me looking at the sentence again is that you have capatilised 'Will Power'. Did you do this for any particular reason?

I would rewrite the sentence:

It is only will power that will stop you smoking, even on New Year's Eve.

Rommie · Answer

Hi,

Oddly, I believe that chris the moderator who answered before me is wrong. (No offence intended, Chris). I suspect the capitalization is deliberate.

The sentence concerns the adventures of one Mr William Power, who wishes to quit smoking. What is ironic about this is the fact that his name happens to be Will Power.

I don't think this is particularly ironic, however. It would have been MORE ironic had you said:

On New Year's Eve, Will Power makes the decision to give up smoking forever.
On New Year's Day, he lights up a cigarette.

Now THAT's ironic. The reason is that the pair of sentences contains an implicit (but not explicit) joke. It's not there in the text, and least not directly, but it's there nonetheless, between the lines. The joke is this - Will Power has no willpower. If I had stated that directly, it would have been a simple play on words, but because it is only stated INdirectly, it's called irony.

Rommie

Guest · Answer

In a teachers´ book it´s explained like this: The Present Simple denoting a regular habit gives away the ephemeral character of Will Power´s decision. I´m really sorry, but I don´t have any idea to use another tense ... Help me to understand it, please!

Rommie · Answer

Gotcha. With that explanation, I finally understood it. Jeez, that is SUBTLE.

Okay - what they're saying is this. SIMPLE PRESENT tense can be used to indicate a repeated action, for example "I write books" or "I play the trombone".

They are going on to conclude (falsely, in my opinion) that the simple present tense ALWAYS indicates repeated action. I don't believe this is so, but if you're in a class, you have to go with the official position or you won't pass the exam.

So, since "makes the decision" is in the simple present tense, they have extrapolated this to the conclusion that this is something he does REGULARLY.

Now, if you follow this line of reasoning, clearly, a person who gives up smoking REGULARLY is a person who doesn't give up for very long. They are, in other words, lacking in willpower.

I dont think this is as clear-cut as your source-material makes out however. The simple present tense isn't ONLY used to indicate repetition. It's also used to tell you that (believe it or not) something is happening in the present, and nothing more. The inclusion of the text "On New Year´s Eve" suggested to me that this was NOT a repeated action. On reflection, now that I have read your explanation, I accept that it COULD be taken to mean "On New Year's Eve EVERY YEAR". But like I said, it's a subtle one. I didn't get it without your explanation.

Now that we know the answer, it would be nice if people other than me could comment on this, as I don't think it's as clear as the question-setters think it is, and I think you were right to be puzzled.

Rommie

Rommie · Answer

Hey, now that we know the answer, can I throw in a bit of fun?
Here's an extract from Blackadder II:

BLACKADDER: Baldrick, do you know what irony is?
BALDRICK: Yeah, it's like tinny or brassy, only it's made of iron.

Irony

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