They drove back to the house to let the old woman off and pick up the lunch. When they were ready to leave, she stood staring in
the window of the car, with her fingers clenched around the glass. Tears began to seep sideways out of her eyes and run along the dirty creases in her face. "I ain’t ever been parted with her for two days before," she said. Which best describes the irony in the excerpt?
a. Mrs. Crater has never been separated from her daughter, and now she must let her go for two days.
b. Mrs. Crater's tears are insincere because she is happy that her daughter is finally leaving her alone.
c. Instead of experiencing the joy of gaining a son-in-law, Mrs. Crater feels the sorrow of losing her daughter.
d. As the two part ways, Lucynell does not feel the same amount of emotional despair as her mother.
c. Instead of experiencing the joy of gaining a son-in-law, Mrs. Crater feels the sorrow of losing her daughter.
Explanation:
The excerpt presents a situational irony that refers to the situation where something is expected to happen, but the opposite happens. In the case of the excerpt, the reader might be expecting Mrs. Carter to be happy that her daughter was married, happy, and given a new member to the family, who is Mrs. Carter's son-in-law. However, instead of Mrs. Carter being happy to have a new son-in-law, Mrs. Carter was very sad to see her daughter leaving her home and tracing her own path.
Gloom brings a sentiment of melancolia and darkness. Combined with frightening, we have a very unique description. We something must be shadowy and frightening to fit. We have darkness which can substitute gloom in one of its definitions, and scary which certainly substitutes frightening quite well.
