Question

Explanation of the irony- the opposite of what might be expected- in gyorgy Ligeti

's characterization of West Berlin

Answer 1

Cages are meant to prevent the escape of animals or people inside, the cage around West Berlin, however, was meant to prevent the escape of people outside. The People in West Berlin were free.

Answer 2

Answer: The irony lays in the fact that West Berlin, though walled-in, was a place of freedom.

Step-by-step explanation:

Since many East Germans were flying to West Germany by first getting to West Berlin, a 13 feet high and 100 miles long wall was built around that side of the city. György Ligeti, a Hungarian composer, described the walled-in West Berlin as “a surrealist cage in which those inside are free.”