Three Types of Irony in Lois Lowry's The Giver

By Natalie Odisho

Let’s Get Lit: Spotlight on Allegory

In The Giver, Jonas is scolded for using imprecise language of “starving”. He is assured by the community that he will never be starving in his life. Isn’t it ironic?

"It’s ironic, a little too ironic don’t you think?" Aside from Alanis Morisette’s literary lyrics, irony is a common rhetorical device used to add drama and mystery.

Lois Lowry uses irony to create complicated layers of ethics, emotion and morality in The Giver. The Giver is the groundbreaking 1994 Newbery award winner in which a young boy, Jonas, is sorted into a painfully real career receiving memories from a tired Giver in a seemingly perfect community.

(Warning! Spoiler alert for The Giver. Read at your own caution.)

Christopher Robin Says No to Adulting: Personification and a Silly 'Ol Bear

By Natalie Odisho

Let’s Get Lit: Spotlight on Allegory

Why the new adventure of Christopher Robin brings life in and out of the Hundred Acre Wood. 

Did you know that Winnie-the-Pooh started as one adult’s solution to sleepless nights? Christopher Robin was named after English author A.A. Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne, who needed bedtime stories to fall asleep.What originally began as a childhood story has grown to become a pastime for the world to enjoy. Today, Winnie-the-Pooh is one of the most successful, celebrated children’s stories in history.

Now a major motion picture, Christopher Robin retells a childhood classic through the eyes of an adult. As storytellers, A.A. Milne and Disney sprinkle the magic of childhood through personified stuffed animals with language, clothing and temperament.

Stephen King’s Ten Tips for Horrific Writing

By Natalie Odisho

Let’s Get Lit: Spotlight on Allegory

JH: I'm introducing a new treat today--a recurring column that will tackle a literary device each month, and show how bestselling authors are using that device in their work. Please help me welcome Natalie Odisho to the Fiction University team! 

Natalie Odisho is an Assyrian-American artist who lives in Dubai. After graduating with a BS from Florida State University, she followed the music to Las Vegas where she worked in editorial and public relations. Now her focus is on acupuncture and telling you to eat only before 7pm.

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Take it away Natalie...