A Unhappy Coward

(O'Brien, 58)

"I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward I went to the war"

Literary Term: Verbal Irony

This short sentence has two separate instances of irony. First and foremost, I think that by saying surviving is not a happy ending is ironic. Without survival, there would be no ending at all; those who survive should consider it a happy ending. Additionally, the implication that a going to war is a cowardly affair can be claimed as ironic. The stereotypical image of brave men going to war holds no room for cowards. However, I think this view is explained earlier in the novel. "Some carried themselves with a sort of wistful resignation, others with pride or stiff soldierly discipline or good humor or macho zeal. They were afraid of dying but they were even more afraid to show it...They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed and died because they were more embarrassed not to." (O'Brien, 19-20). This is my image of a solider, some only act ting out of fear of embarrassment. The fact that people die due to embarrassment is distasteful and sickening.