Question

Read the passage.

Michael was a really big guy. He was a linebacker on the football team, and his shoulders were twice the size of most people’s. Everyone knows Michael at school, but no one actually knows his real name. They just call him “Tiny.”

Which literary device is the author using?



understatement


paradox


verbal irony


symbolism

Answer 1

maybe it's verbal irony, because they call him tiny even though he's big. but i feel like it could be symbolism. I'd go with verbal irony.

Answer 2

The literary device the author is using is verbal irony. Option C is correct.

Verbal irony is defined as  irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.

In this case, for instance, the author is describig a person who is realaly big in size, but everybody call him "tiny" which means totally the opposite.

Verbal ironies are mainly the intentional products of speakers. The speakers say what is intentionally contradictory to their emotions and actions.