How to use irony and symbolism?

Question

How do you use irony and symbolism. I'm writing a personal narative for a paper, and I'm required to use those in it, and I'm not sure how. Any suggestions?

i know what they mean, the hard part if fitting them into a personal narrative because you can;t tweak it to fit you needs

Answer 1

You need to know the meanings of the literary terms.
Irony=verbal, dramatic, and situational. I believe the easiest to use would be dramatic irony (when the reader knows something that the characters do not know)
Symbolism=when something stands for something else. For example, when you see the color red, you might think of a stop sign, a school building, the Red Cross, apple, strawberry, fire truck, etc. In your story, the use of red might mean an emergency. Another example could be a very black sky, heavy air, and clouds closing in on you. These might symbolize depression and sadness.

Answer 2

Irony is like a "turn" in a narrative -- for example, in Shakespeare's MacBeth, there's a scene which includes three witches (presumed to be evil) who are casting spells, etc. MacBeth comes on the scene, and one of the witches says "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes..." That's irony -- the witch, who herself is portrayed as evil, says, "uh-oh, this guy is REALLY bad!"

Symbolism is something like, for example, the Cross in Christianity -- it symbolizes Christ's sacrifice (although Crucifixion was a common practice of the Romans before Christ). Or it could be an owl, for example, coming on the scene, symbolizing Wisdom. A lion, to symbolize Courage, and so on.

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

I hope that you will find definitions below helpful.
Quick definitions (irony)
noun: incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs (Example: "The irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated")
noun: a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs
noun: witty language used to convey insults or scorn (Example: "Irony is wasted on the stupid")
Quick definitions (symbolism)
noun: the practice of investing things with symbolic meaning
noun: a system of symbols and symbolic representations
noun: an artistic movement in the late 19th century that tried to express abstract or mystical ideas through the symbolic use of images

Answer 4

well you want to have a story line that looks like it is leading to a clear resolution then change it to end in a different way.
as for symbolism I would say explain something with objects other than the real ones... if that makes sense.
I'm working on a narrative right now too but i'm taking a break for a while

Answer 5

Look up a dictionary and you're half way there!