The Fatalist Essay -- Literary Analysis, Singer, Schwartz, Irony

In â€Å"The Fatalist† written by Isaac Bashevis Singer, verbal and situational irony is used to highlight Benjamin Schwartz’s (the Fatalist’s) strange views of fate and pre-destiny by pointing out the absurdity of fatalism in different ways. Verbal irony is used by certain characters to almost mock the Fatalist’s view on preordainment. Situational irony is used in â€Å"the Fatalist† by giving us a shocking ending, and ultimately reversing our original perspective on fate. Singer’s main purpose by using irony in â€Å"the Fatalist† is to contradict our previous outlook on a specific occurrence in the story and give us a totally new perspective achieved by sarcasm or just plain old incongruity between what we expect to happen and what really happens. There are many instances in â€Å"the Fatalist† that exemplify irony, but they must be broken down in order to understand their significance. The Fatalist and his controversy amongst the townspeople are introduced shortly after his arrival. He would give speeches on his beliefs about fatalism and fielded questions, complaints and retorts from his audiences. People began to be too familiar with fatalism even so that â€Å"a new word was added to the town’s vocabulary†¦everyone here (there) knows what a fatalist, even the beadle of the synagogue and the poorhouse attendant† (190). This example of verbal irony demonstrates how big of a deal Benjamin Fatalist was to the society. Even though some may have not agreed with him, he was certainly a newcomer that others were interested in. This also defines an introduction for the fatalist; we now can understand why he was welcomed and treated the way he was. The most important antagonist in â€Å"the Fatalist† is Heyele Minz. She is responsible for the majority of the v... ... end results in marriage. They evidently still despise each other, but a deal is a deal. â€Å"The Fatalist† is a story of sarcasm and irony. Verbal irony and situational irony are the playmakers in this novella, but they each play a different role in reversing our general perspective on events in â€Å"the Fatalist.† Verbal irony is used to reverse our opinions on a certain character or their actions while situational irony is used to reverse our original thoughts on the outcome of the story as a whole. Eventually all the examples of verbal irony come together to form the final result of the story, which ends up completely reversing our original perspective about the conclusion. Without a protagonist (the Fatalist) and the antagonist (Heyele), there is no possible way to lead a story to a dramatic and ironic ending. Most often, words must be spoken to change the outcome.