After Twenty Years/Hey Come on Out

After Twenty Years/Hey Come On Out

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​Literary Analysis: Irony

Irony involves a contradiction or contrast of some kind.

In situational irony (or irony of situation), something takes place that a character or reader does not expect to happen. For example, a student voted Most Likely to Succeed ends up going to prison.

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​Literary Analysis: Irony

In verbal irony, a writer, speaker, or character says something that deliberately contradicts or blurs what he or she actually means. Think of a man who has been dreading a reunion with his best friend from twenty years before. When they meet, he says, “I’ve been so looking forward to seeing you.” That is verbal irony.

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​Literary Analysis: Irony

In dramatic irony, the reader or audience knows or understands something that a character or speaker does not. For example, readers know that the apple Snow White is about to bite into is poisoned, but Snow White does not know it. That is dramatic irony.

As you read “After Twenty Years” and “He—y, Come On O—ut!” look for situational irony in particular.

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Multiple Choice

In “After Twenty Years,” what has happened to the restaurant where the two friends had agreed to meet?

• It has closed for the evening.

• It has changed management.

• It has forbidden the man to enter.

• It has been closed for five years.

Multiple Choice

In “After Twenty Years,” why does the policeman make a point of asking the

man in the doorway whether he plans to wait for Jimmy Wells to show up?

• He is testing him to find out whether he is a trusted friend.

• He wants to see whether he has time to call another officer to arrest him.

• He needs time to change out of his uniform and come back to surprise his

  friend.

• He needs time to find out whether there is an outstanding warrant for his

  arrest.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements best summarizes the meaning of this quotation from “After Twenty Years”?

“It [twenty years] sometimes changes a good man into a bad one.”

• A life of crime can change a good man into a bad man.

• The West is likely to change a good man into a bad man.

• Over the course of twenty years, a good man may turn to crime.

• You are lucky that life in the West did not change you into a bad man.

Multiple Choice

What is ironic about Jimmy and “Silky” Bob in “After Twenty Years”?

• One has become a police officer, and one has become a criminal.

• One has grown taller, while the other has grown shorter with age.

• Both of them have become criminals.

• Neither of them ever liked the other.

Multiple Choice

In “He—y, Come On O—ut!” how do the villagers come to discover the hole?

• A landslide has swept away a shrine that had covered it.

• A typhoon has destroyed a building that had covered it.

• A child from the village falls into it.

• A construction worker notices it.

Multiple Choice

In “He—y, Come On O—ut!” how does the scientist who comes to examine the

hole behave?

• He acts as if the hole will go away on its own.

• He acts as if the hole is an unnatural event.

• He acts as if the hole is not at all unusual.

• He acts as if he has seen many such holes.

Multiple Choice

In “He—y, Come On O—ut!” who offers to fill the hole?

• a newspaper reporter

• one of the scientists

• a government worker

• one of the concessionaires

Multiple Choice

What is ironic about the ending of “He—y, Come On O—ut!”?

• The hole is filled and eventually pollutes the entire village.

• e city keeps expanding until the village is swallowed up.

• A voice shouts from the sky and a pebble falls toward the city.

• The hole never fills up, and the city becomes cleaner and better.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following choices is an example of dramatic irony?

• An audience can predict that the hero of a story will die.

• A character says, “That dress looks so good on you,” while thinking that it looks awful.

• Readers know who the villain is, but the other characters do not realize it.

• A politician who criticizes his opponent’s moral character is convicted of

  lying under oath.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following choices is an example of situational irony?

• A girl who was always in trouble grows up to become a police officer.

• Unexpected guests arrive, the house is a mess, and the host says, “I’m glad

  you came.”

• Readers know that one character in a story will die, but none of the characters know it.

• Readers realize that a plot is based on the plot of a much older story that

  ends tragically.

Multiple Choice

Which word best describes the endings of “After Twenty Years” and “He—y,

Come On O—ut!”?

• sad

• surprising

• tragic

• funny

Multiple Choice

Which part of “He—y, Come On O—ut!” makes it less realistic than “After

Twenty Years”?

• a deep hole that never fills up

• people burying nuclear waste

• constructions workers taking

  breaks

• villagers moving a sacred shrine

Multiple Choice

When “Silky” Bob says that “each of us ought to have our destiny worked out,”

what does he mean?

• Their futures will have been decided.

• They will have solved their puzzles.

• They will have paid off their debts.

• Their unhappiness will have eased.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following choices describes a plausible explanation?

• one that everyone has rejected

• one that makes everyone happy

• one that is scientific

• one that makes sense

Multiple Choice

Who would be most likely to make a proposal?

• an architect who hopes to design a building

• a nurse who is caring for a sick patient

• a student who has finished her homework

• a construction worker who is on a break