Irony In V.S. Naipaul’s In A Free State

As one of the most distinguished immigrant writers in the contemporary world,Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul had honor of receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 for having integrated perceptive narrative with incorruptible scrutiny and facticity of suppressed histories.In a Free State is a representative work in manifesting Naipaul’s style of early literary creation,which earned him the Booker Prize in England in 1971.This thesis aims to make an analysis of the artistic technique — irony used in In a Free State,so as to explore its significant role played in such aspects as characterization,the development of the plot,arrangement of the structure and the thematic presentation in the novel.By means of verbal irony,Naipaul not only successfully shapes the eccentric and solitary character of people living in the post-colonial society,but also reveals the hypocritical mask of the colonizers.Situational irony displays these protagonists’ inevitable tragic fate in seeking fruitless freedom when they experience the reality runs counter to the hope,which promotes the development of the plot and presents the theme.Structural irony serves the great tension between readers’ perceptions and protagonists’ thoughts and behaviors,which extremely intensifies the theme of the novel.It also plays an essential role in organization of this work and forms every part as a whole with the same theme.Through a detailed analysis of skillful art of irony in this novel,the thesis reveals the theme that the people who live in the post-colonial society cannot get the absolute freedom identity.