Verbal irony is when one thing is said and it means something else. In Breaking Smith’s Quarter Horse the main character, Smith, would from time to time says things in a sarcastic tone which is a form of verbal irony. Early in the story smith and his wife, Nora, are talking about the weather and the poor quality of hay for their livestock. Smith says “we knew this would only make chewing tobacco for them”(11), knowing that hay does not make chewing tobacco but he realizes that the hay is poor quality this year. Another moment of verbal irony is when Smith has a conversation with a native named Alexander about paying Ol’ Antione for breaking Smith’s quarter horse. Alexander seems to believe that Ol’ Antione has done his job and that Smith need to finish paying him and Smith’s reply is “I get old and forket things in

Verbal, dramatic and situational irony all helped bind this book together. They also have the same effect on everyday life. What happens in Breaking Smith’s Quarter Horse can be reflected in each life in there own way. Then there comes the realization that it is all just an average quarter horse.

the het now, Aleksanter”(91). Even though Smith know that the horse still need to be broken in. To add to the sarcasm he even says it in a native accent. The town judge also has a sarcastic side to him. Late in the story Smith finds himself facing this judge to be sentence for an earlier offense. Once the judge has given Smith his penalty he lips off the judge by saying he has the fifty bucks to pay off the fine in his ass pocket. The judge did not take to the sass to kindly so he increased the penalty to an additional thirty days and added the reply “Possibly you have that in your ass pocket, also”(154). Since it would be impossible to have such a thing in your pocket this can be taken as sarcasm. Sarcasm is used through out the story giving it a little humor.

The story not only uses verbal irony but there is also the use of dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is when the audience perceives something that a character does not know. For instance, early in the novel Nora shows up at the old cabin with a gun, which scares Gabriel into pulling out a gun he has. Smith quickly convinces Gabriel that her gun was to kill a cow, “you don’t have to be a scared of my wife. She has come to kill that old cow for me”(39). Gabriel may see this as being so, but the reader knows that Nora

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