Answers to Question on Irony / Paradox / Oxymoron



Comprehension Skills Package – Focus on Irony & Paradox

a) Paradox

What is a Paradox?

- An improbable combination of two opposing ideas.

Principles of explaining paradoxes:

The contradictory factors are usually placed side by side, hence resulting in a paradox. When explaining, use key phrases like:

o It is paradoxical that…

o On the one hand…on the other hand…

o This is contradictory as…

E.g. “…they place much of the blame on the very same technologies that they were so aggressively championing.”

Possible answer: It is paradoxical that while they actively advocate the benefits of technology, they also find fault in the same technology for the various problems that have arisen in society.

1. TJC Prelim 2003

Recent incidents, such as the projectile-throwing tantrum of the Yankees-Red Sox game in Fenway Park and the abuse of European golfers at the Ryder Cup in Brookline, Massachusetts, suggest an answer: legal hooliganism. Teams will sponsor cells of well-trained, remorseless thugs ready at any moment to storm the field and waylay players. Athletes will be expected to hone those skills necessary to contend with this exciting new variable.

Explain the paradox in the phrase ‘legal hooliganism’ (line 37) [1m]

2. AJC Prelim 2008

In general our society is becoming one of giant enterprises directed by a bureaucracy in which man becomes a small, well-oiled cog in the machinery. The oiling is done with higher wages, fringe benefits, well-ventilated factories and piped music, and by psychologists and “human relations” experts; yet all this oiling does not alter the fact that man has become powerless, that he does not wholeheartedly participate in his work and that he is bored with it. In fact, the blue- and the white-collar workers have become economic puppets who dance to the tune of automated machines and bureaucratic management.

What contradiction is the author highlighting about man’s working life (lines 2-7)? Use your own words as far as possible. [1m]

3. JJC Prelim 2008

There is something mad about the modern world. It’s as if there is a collective neurosis where the delights of personal convenience have, paradoxically, created intolerable sensitivities. Or maybe it’s that our collective unconscious (as outlined by Carl Jung) is in fact fragmenting. Jung believed that we share a sense of symbols, dreams and feelings that go back to primitive times and reflect memories of our ancestors’ experiences.

Explain why the ‘collective neurosis’ (line 1-2) is paradoxical in nature. [1]

Answers On Paradox

1. TJC Prelim 2003

Explain the paradox in the phrase ‘legal hooliganism’(line 37)

Hooliganism is an act that is not approved by law and so cannot be legal. The phrase is a contradiction (1m)

2. AJC Prelim 2008

a) What contradiction is the author highlighting here about man’s working life (lines 2-7)? Use your own words as far as possible. (1 mark)

|Lift |Suggested answers |Mark |

|Oiling is done with higher wages, fringe |The contradiction is that people who |  |

|benefits, well ventilated factories and piped |have so many work benefits would likely be interested in/ enjoy their work/ be |1 |

|music, and by psychologists and human relations |happy/ be motivated in their work. | |

|experts… (lines 2-4) |Wrong subject – 0 mark | |

| | | |

|Contradiction |Instead, they are unhappy/ find work tedious and they put in minimal effort. | |

|…he does not wholeheartedly participate in his | | |

|work, (line 5) |Students are not required to paraphrase word for word to get the mark. | |

|…he is bored with it (line 6) | | |

| |Students’ answers must contain both parts explicitly to get the mark. | |

1. JJC Prelim 2008

Explain why the ‘collective neurosis’ (line 1) is paradoxical in nature (1m)

|Text |Inference / Paraphrase |

|The delights of personal convenience have |Although people emphasise their own comfort / look after their own |

| |well-being and thus expect to enjoy life, (½m) |

| | |

| |*focus is on “convenience” ( give ½ if that is clearly covered, but 0 |

| |if only “delights” is paraphrased (eg. ½ for benefits, 0 for |

| |happiness) |

|Created intolerable sensitivities |They end up being susceptible to suffering discomfort |

| |OR |

| |They cannot withstand unbearable conditions / inconveniences. (½m) |

b) Irony

What is an irony?

- The words employed are clearly opposite in its meaning. They could be used for a humorous effect, or simply to express sarcasm or annoyance.

o Principles of answering questions on ironies are similar to that of the paradox.

E.g. “It is wonderfully ironic that after decades of struggle to achieve a shorter working week, those who now aspire to the top are obliged to do so by working themselves to the ground”.

Possible answer: The irony lies in the fact that, on the one hand, people have fought so hard to enjoy more leisure time by working a shorter work week. However, in their climb up the corporate ladder, they end up working harder and longer than before to secure their high postions. The outcome is a direct contradiction to their initial aim of striving for a shorter work week.

EXERCISES ON IRONY

2002 Promotional Examinations

1. PJC (Passage A, Para 1)

The irony of the obesity issue is that the pressure for slenderness posed by the American society is making people even more overweight. The 1980s and 1990s were supposed to be times when people started to care more about their health. In this sense, obesity began to be seen as a threat. Exercise has been highly valued and recreation centres proliferated everywhere. Fat became an enemy. As noted earlier, low calorie and low fat food became plentifully available. The contradiction resides on the fast increasing rate of overweight among men and women, from almost all ages and origins during this period. The psychological issues related to these contemporary pressures could give further understanding to such a problem.

Why does the writer use the word “irony” in paragraph 1? (2m)

2. AJC (Passage A, Para 4)

Despite four decades of feminist influence, women are still easily seduced by images of almost impossibly beautiful females. But if females fantasise about what it would be like to possess nothing more than good looks, the daydreams of men generally follow different plotlines. Men long to be powerful and to make decisions. Therefore the basic premise of male modeling is absurd, for what could embody passivity more than modeling?

What is ironic about male modeling? Answer in your own words as far as possible. (2m)

3. SRJC (Passage B, Para 1)

In the world’s rich countries, when you retire at 65 you can expect to live, on average, for another 15-20years. A hundred years ago, you would on average, have been already dead. The late 20th century has brought to many the ultimate gift: the luxury of ageing. But like any luxury, age is expensive. Very expensive. And the worse is yet to come.

According to the writer, ageing is a “gift”, yet it is so “expensive.” Explain the irony shown here. (2m)

4. HCJC Prelim 2003

Long, long ago, before the Williams sisters ensured that a black player would win a Wimbledon final, there was Arthur Ashe. Ashe had to leave his hometown of Richmond Virginia, because the tennis courts were segregated Now his statue stands on one end of Monument Avenue in the city – a tribute to the late humanitarian and only black man ever to have gained an All-England Club singles title. Almost a mile away at the other end of the street stands Jefferson Davis – the president of the Confederacy who led slave owning states into battle and approved the summary execution of black soldiers during the civil war as an “example” to discourage the arming of slaves.

Briefly explain the irony of having a statue of Arthur Ashe standing within a mile of a status of Jefferson Davis. Use your own words as far as possible.

5. AJC Prelim 2007

Psychotherapy will not fix these issues whose roots are societal and spiritual. Psychiatrists rarely delve into an individual's spiritual vacuum. After all, the doctor is himself in the same boat. Hence the high rate of suicide in the medical profession.

Explain in your own words the irony in “After all, the doctor is himself in the same boat”. (line 34-35) (1)

6. MJC Prelim 2007

There are plenty of signs that another backlash is on the way. Much of this resentment focuses on growing inequalities. People complain that these are straining the bonds of society to breaking point: a new aristocracy of talent is retreating into golden ghettos and running the global economy in their own interests. “The talented retain many of the vices of aristocracy without its virtues,” said the late Christopher Lasch, an American historian, in one of the best analyses of the trend. The logic of talent wars is meritocratic: the most talented get the most rewards. But the reality of democracy is egalitarian: the people can use their political power as a social leveller.

Explain the contradiction or irony found in lines 14-16. [2]

7. SAJC Prelim 2007

Ensuring that we allow for different cultures and people to coexist and flourish alongside one another is as important a priority today as ever. There is, ironically, a unity in this. The task before us is to find the great truth of this unity, to transcend the repetitions and contradictions of our earthly experience and discover the unity of the world. This may be what civilisation is all about.

“Ensuring that we allow for different cultures and people to coexist and flourish alongside one another is as important a priority today as ever” (lines 39-40). Explain the irony in this statement. [2]

8. AJC Prelim 2008

We demand difficulty even in our games. We demand it because without difficulty there can be no game. A game is a way of making something hard for the fun of it. The rules of the game are an arbitrary imposition of difficulty. When the spoilsport ruins the fun, he always does so by refusing to play by the rules. It is easier to win at chess if you are free, at your pleasure, to change the wholly arbitrary rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules. No difficulty, no fun.

“We demand difficulty even in our games” (line 28). What is the irony in this statement?

9. NYJC Prelim 2008

How is the phrase ‘SOFT POWER’ ironic or contradictory? [2]

10. ACJC Prelim 2004

When we think of a globe it is usually a miniature model of the earth, which one finger can send into violent revolution. If we dwell on that aspect, the tag "global culture" ominously hints at a terrible, dizzying shrinkage, at the mercy of some external hand (eg Disney, Murdoch, Coca-Cola). The more obvious implication, of course, is that "global culture" is something vast, a giant structure existing beyond any of us no matter how cosmopolitan our personal horizons. Neither way does 'global culture' seem to belong to medium-sized human beings with a local habitation and a name. But then are we really supposed to feel good about it? Perhaps it is often meant sarcastically - as an oxymoron.

Why is 'global culture' described as an oxymoron (line 9)? Use your own words as far as possible. [2m]

ANSWERS ON IRONY

2002 Promotional Examinations

1. PJC (Passage A, Para 1)

Why does the writer use the word “irony” in paragraph 1? (2m)

|From the Passage |Suggested Answer |

|“the pressure of slenderness posed by the American society is making people |American desire (especially women’s) to be slim but the stress following this |

|even more overweight” (lines 1-2) |leads to people becoming even more overweight / heavier. (1m) ................
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