Close Reading Assignment 3

How to Live Without Irony

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/how-to-live-without-irony/?ref=opinion

In the article "How to Live Without Irony", Christy Wampole discusses the irony that, according to her, is infecting society today.  She emphasizes its negative impact through her usage of sophisticated language, detailed examples, and interesting syntax.

From the beginning of the article, Wampole's sophisticated word choice creates a very disconnected and almost scholarly approach to interpreting irony.  When she insists that "scoffing at the hipster is only a diluted form of his own affliction. He is merely a symptom and the most extreme manifestation of ironic living", her usage of medical and scientific terminology, seen in the terms "affliction", "symptom", and "diluted", she creates a practical air to her analysis.  In the third paragraph, she dissects the etymology of "subterfuge" for the reader, again creating a scholarly and learned tone.  Her language further in the article also indicates a more learned tone.  By using words such as "postmodern cynicism, detachment and meta-referentiality" to describe the wide-spread ironic atmosphere, Wampole almost scorns the existence of irony through her own sophisticated language.  Her wording throughout the article borders on pretentious, of establishing herself above the irony, which she sees as unsophisticated.

Wampole also emphasizes her views on the pervasiveness of irony through the detailed examples she uses.  Her examples all relate to our common lives, referencing advertisements and other commonplace items and events we see and experience.  She begins the article by describing the "hipster haunting every street corner and university town", bringing to mind images of the people we see every day.  Her later example of the advertisements which laugh at themselves also bring up memories.  By being relatively open in her description, she allows her audience to select a memory that fits her example, providing a detailed and vivid image.  Her example of her own lack of sincerity also stirs up images that are familiar to many people.  "A kitschy painting from a thrift store", "a coffee mug with flashy images of 'Texas, the Lone Star State'", and "plastic Mexican wrestler figures" are all easily imaginable gifts that many people may have seen or interacted with at some point.  By explicitly describing them, Wampole allows her audience to get a mental picture that provide memories corresponding to her own views.  In using detailed and specific examples, Wampole allows the audience to connect to her article, thus allowing them to perceive her points more clearly.

Aspects of syntax also allow for Wampole's point to be expressed more clearly.  Her use of rhetorical questions bring to light different issues and questions the audience may have either her argument, which she then uses to explain her views and refute the opposition or elaborate on an unclear point.  Later questions also connect the message back to the reader.  By asking questions such as "Do I communicate primarily through inside jokes and pop culture?" and "Do I feign indifference?", Wampole asks us to examine our own actions and thereby determine for ourselves how true her statements are.  She seems to rely on the expectation that many would find these questions pointing towards their own ironic tendencies, but it seems like a safe assumption and allows her point to be quite a distance.  At other points, Wampole uses parallelism to emphasize points in her argument.  At one point, she informs us, "Fundamentalists are never ironists; dictators are never ironists; people who move things in the political landscape, regardless of the sides they choose, are never ironists."  Her parallelism emphasize the characters of people who aren't ironic, thus providing emphasis on the particular characteristics of both those who are and aren't ironic.  Using such syntax, Wampole furthers her points and more deeply ingrains the overall message into her readers.

Through these techniques, Wampole brings to light the pervasiveness of irony in today's society, pointing out its flaws in being so widespread as to be relatively unrecognized as a threat.  Her editorial works to bring the overly sarcastic age to an end and convince the audience to start again with sincerity.