Final answer:
The verbal irony in the text from Raymond Chandler's 'Farewell, My Lovely' emphasizes the character's conspicuousness in a humorous and exaggerated manner using a stark contrast simile.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student has asked about the implication of verbal irony in a text from Raymond Chandler's 'Farewell, My Lovely,' which uses a simile to describe someone's inability to be inconspicuous.
In this context, the phrase 'he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake' suggests a stark contrast between the subject's attempt to blend in and the reality of how noticeable they are, similar to how a tarantula would be highly conspicuous on a slice of white angel food cake.
This use of verbal irony serves to emphasize the character's failure to go unnoticed in a humorous and exaggerated manner.