Read the given extracts and answer the questions for ANY ONE of the two, given.
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How does Bama use humour and irony to expose the absurdity and injustice of untouchability? Give examples from the text to support your answer.
Answer as written by the student:
Bama uses humour and irony to expose the absurdity and injustice of untouchability by creating a contrast between the old man’s innocent act of buying vadai and the shopkeeper’s violent reaction to the accidental breaking of the pumpkin.
- She also shows how the shopkeeper values the pumpkin more than the old man’s dignity and life, and how he exploits his caste privilege to oppress and humiliate him.
- Bama makes the reader sympathize with the old man and laugh at the shopkeeper’s irrationality and cruelty.
Step by step explanation of the answer:
To answer this question, we need to understand what humour and irony are, and how they are used in literature.
- Humour is a literary device that creates amusement or laughter in the reader or audience. Irony is a literary device that creates a contrast or discrepancy between what is expected and what actually happens, or between what is said and what is meant.
- Bama uses both humour and irony in this extract to expose the absurdity and injustice of untouchability, which is a system of social discrimination based on birth and caste in India.
- By using humour and irony in this extract, Bama makes the reader aware of the absurdity and injustice of untouchability, which is a serious social issue in India. She also makes the reader sympathize with the old man, who is a victim of caste discrimination, and laugh at the shopkeeper, who is a perpetrator of caste violence.
