Question

Which of the following story events from Robinson Crusoe would be considered situational irony?

A.Crusoe marks the days he lives on the island on a wooden cross.
B.Crusoe sees the sprouted corn as an accident instead of a gift from God.
C.After the earthquake, Crusoe decides that the cave isn't the best place for his home.
D.After the shipwreck, Crusoe realizes that if the crew had stayed on the ship instead of fleeing on lifeboats, they would have all been saved.

Answer 1

Answer: D. After the shipwreck, Crusoe realizes that if the crew had stayed on the ship instead of fleeing on lifeboats, they would have all been saved.

Explanation: an irony is a state of affairs or an event that seems contrary to what one expects and it often has an amusing result. A situational irony is when what happens is the contrary to what the characters or the audience are expecting to happen. From the given options, the event that represents an example of a situational an irony is option D, because one would expect that if the crew fled on lifeboats, they would be safe but instead they should had stayed in the ship (which seems contradictory).

Answer 2

Answer: D.After the shipwreck, Crusoe realizes that if the crew had stayed on the ship instead of fleeing on lifeboats, they would have all been saved.

Situational irony is a literary device in which actions have the opposite effect from what was intended. It describes a situation in which we encounter incongruity between expectations and outcome.

In this case, the crew had wanted to survive, so they decided to flee on the lifeboats. The irony is that the crew perished because of this decision, when they would have survived if they had stayed in the boat.