Irony In "What Is The What" By Dave Eggers

Irony is seen throughout many works of literature. In Dave Egger’s novel “What is The What” irony is used throughout the story. To begin with, Valentino, the narrator, is robbed in his home in Atlanta. When this happens Valentino wises he was back in Kakuma: “In Kakuma there was no rain, the winds blew nine months a year, and eighty thousand war refugees from Sudan and elsewhere lived on one meal a day.” This quote is ironic because in Atlanta he has freedom and he lives in an apartment, which for him is a great place. But the bad thing about living there is that he was getting robbed. In Kakuma he didn’t need to worry about getting robbed because he: “lived in a hut of plastic and sandbags and owned one pair of pants”. Now that he lives in Atlanta he owns: “…a television, a VCR, a microwave, an alarm clock, many other conveniences, all provided by the Peachtree United Methodist Church here in Atlanta”. Irony is a universal element: Irony is seen throughout novels and everyday discussion.