Download Eggers, D. (2000). A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering

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Scott Robleski
Professor Pycior
Eggers Essay
November 4, 2014
This paper addresses whether the book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is
ironic or not. I believe it is not ironic. Instead I believe it to be a sarcastic, self-depreciating
autobiography. I will first define irony and then use evidence from the book itself, the author’s
own comments, and a look at historical and current novels that display examples of true irony in
their plots to support my thesis and argument.
One definition of irony is that it is a literary technique in which words are used in such a
way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words. It may also be
a situation that ends up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated. Simply put, it
is a difference between the appearance and the reality of a situation or thing. Another way to
look at literary pieces that claim to be ironic is to examine how the plot of the work is structured.
The use of irony as a literary device can be divided into situational and / or cosmic irony.
Situational irony is when the plot of a novel or story in which events turn out contrary to the
character’s expectations and desires. For example, I save a cat from a tree in the morning
(sparing its life), but then I inadvertently run it over with my car in the afternoon, killing it. My
later action (the car accident) negates my earlier efforts to save the life of the cat. Cosmic irony
is when irony is associated with the notion of fate, or a deity, manipulating events so as to defeat
the intentions of a character, usually the hero of the literary work. Many classical Greek plays are
based upon the theory of cosmic irony and Deus ex machina (Sophocles, 2002).
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is not ironic. What some people mistake as
Eggers being ironic is really him just displaying and showing himself as he truly was at the time
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of the events. Eggers is simply a character that we have seen many times before. He is the classic
smart-alecky, overly cool, self-depreciating, sassy, arrogant jerk that is present in much of
current writing, TV, and movies (Harris, 2000). His intent is to amuse and entertain the reader
with his hipness, not to generate sadness or empathy for the situation he places himself and Toph
in. I can relate to this archetype as in high school I was not in the “In Club”. Eggers reminds me
of those who were, and how they always seem to think that they were smarter, their jokes
funnier, and their lives more interesting than anyone outside of the “In Club”.
The starting premise of the story, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is that
Dave Eggers parents both die within a few months of each other. He then is forced to raise his
younger brother Toph. Dave then proceeds over the course of the book to detail his and Toph's
life and their subsequent adventures as well as Dave’s business escapades. Throughout the book
Dave is portrayed as not a nice person. In general he is depicted as a jerk; this is where people
sometimes draw the conclusion that the book is ironic. However that is not the case. Since
Eggers depicting himself just as he was at the time of the book is the key to understanding that
his story is not ironic, but rather he is simply “reporting” how he actually acted and lived.
A couple of quotes from the book help to illustrate my argument that this is not an ironic
work of literature. On page 154, Eggers states that “All we really want is for no one to have a
boring life, to be impressive, so we can be impressed.” He then goes on to exaggerate the
specialness of his life and how he seeks to punish his parents for dying by engaging in all sort of
behaviors that most parents would refrain from, or at least hide from their kids (in this case
Toph). What would be ionic would be if Eggers having made the above statement lived out a
boring suburban life to protect Toph from his womanizing and other abuses, but then Toph grew
up to be the just like Eggers romanticizes himself in the book.
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In a second quote, on page 190, Eggers says “If you don't want anyone to know about
your existence, you might as well kill yourself. You're taking up space, air.” This declaration
offers the prospects of irony. Imagine for a moment if Eggers got all of his fame, everyone knew
his name, but he could not deal with the adulation and attention. He then kills himself. The irony
would be that on either path he could chose, being a nobody or someone famous, both would
lead to the same end; suicide. This would be classic cosmic irony.
A final quote underscores how Eggers is really just smarmy and a jerk. On page 188
Eggers writes “You have what I can afford to give. You are a panhandler, begging for anything,
and I am the man walking briskly by, tossing a quarter or so into your paper cup.” The irony
would be is that for all of his striving and achievements, Eggers eventually ends up on the street.
Indeed, in the entire book we are only shown Eggers the achiever and striver. His belief that by
striving he is somebody, not like the lazy beggar, would be thrust back into his face and his
reality. The irony in this situation would be enhanced as Eggers would now see the world
through the eyes of an unfortunate that he has previously scorned. Perhaps then he would not be
as condescending and smug about giving just a quarter to a street person.
My last argument as to why A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is not ironic is
provided by the author himself. In an article published in The Guardian Newspaper, Eggers
himself stated “…that there is almost no irony, whatsoever, within its [A Heartbreaking Work of
Staggering Genius] covers” (Eggers, 2001). Now, often authors dissemble or cannot see that
what they are writing does in fact have a deeper meaning that they are oblivious to, but the
reader and critics are not. However, I doubt very much that is the case with Eggers. I base this on
the fact that much of his life has been built on fabrication and stretching the truth. At Might
Magazine, Eggers published a fake obituary for Adam Rich. He seemed especially proud of the
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satire and firestorm that resulted (Eggers, 2014). In this same manner, I believe that Eggers
intended A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius to be a similar spoof of his life, and
certainly not intentionally ironic.
Many literary works such as A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius evoke a
sarcastic, seen it all / world weary tone that many people interpret as irony, but is really selfdepreciation or self-criticism. Sarcasm is not necessarily irony, but it can be. Sarcasm is the use
of language that subverts the speaker's true meaning in order to be scathing or attacking.
Specifically, sarcasm is intended to wound another (IsItIronic, 2014).
The use of irony in a literary work is often called dramatic irony. Dramatic irony occurs
when the reader has more information on what is really taking place or what may develop in the
story before the character or the characters become aware of the same facts. It can be described
as secret foreshadowing. The reader may know that the literary character is depending on
untrustworthy people, even his enemies, or that he is taking steps towards a wrong solution. Yet
the character is not aware of these facts. This is not the case in A Heartbreaking Work of
Staggering Genius. Here the reader has less knowledge than the author. In fact the reader is
dependent upon the author providing aides or incongruous ramblings to provide the reader with
the motivations and reasons for his actions. Eggers is not necessarily telling us about why others
act, just why he acts. He is more in on the “secret” than are we the reader.
Historically, dramatic irony can be said to have started with the early Greek plays.
Perhaps the best known cosmic irony ancient Greek play is Oedipus Rex. A brief summary of the
plot is that that Oedipus' parents, the king and queen of Thebes, are warned that their son will kill
his father and marry his mother, so they abandon Oedipus in the woods. He does not die, but is
instead saved by strangers. Eventually Oedipus returns to Thebes a stranger and finds the town
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under the curse of the Sphinx, who will not free the city unless her riddle is answered. Oedipus
solves the riddle. He murders the king, becomes the new king and marries the queen to secure his
hold on the Theban throne. In time, Oedipus comes to learn that he is actually the dead king’s
son, cast out of Thebes as a baby. He realizes that he has killed his father and married his mother,
in a direct fulfilment of the prophecy. Horrified, he blinds himself and leaves Thebes forever
(Sophocles, 2002).
Shakespeare is also a master of using irony to further plot development and create a
compelling story for his audiences. For example in Othello, the audience is made aware early on
in the play of Iago’s duplicity and desire for revenge upon Othello, but Othello is clueless. In The
Tempest, Miranda does not know that Fernando, the Prince of Naples is on the capsized boat.
Nor is she aware that Gonzalo, the person who aided Prospero and Miranda’s in their escape into
exile is also on the ship. Yet Prospero and the audience do (Cagil, 2014).
Moving forward in literary history, many novels in the Romantic Era (e.g., the works of
Jane Austin) rely on irony and late revealed secrets as the basis of their plotlines. A challenge
with more current literature is that many authors, and readers, confuse irony and sarcasm. Many
of today’s authors come from the Post-Modernism School. Traditional literature is works that
come out of Western traditions before the First World War. Modernism is what followed the
shock of the First World War; literacy works that questioned the structures and assumptions of
traditional society. A classic novel here is All Quiet on the Western Front. Modernism literature
is usually characterized by an extensive use of irony. Post-Modernism is the most recent literary
school and came about after the Second World War. Post-Modernism represents an extension of
the philosophies and techniques of Modernism to question the idea of “meaning” in general.
Post-Modernism at its core denies the existence of any ultimate principles or truth. Unlike
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physical science where the earth is round for everyone, Post-Modernism argues that there is no
scientific, philosophical, or religious truth which will explain everything for everybody (PBS,
2014).
In literature, the Post-Modernism movement seized upon irony and sarcasm as literary
devices to expose and condemn the Victorian hypocrisy of pretending to “not know things”
while publicly promoting the opposite. An historical real-life example here is the way in which
the British public knew of the extramarital indiscretions of Prince Albert (Dannielle218, 2012),
but refused to discuss or accept it. Instead the perfectness of the British Royal family was always
emphasized. Of course, today these indiscretions would be on the cover of People Magazine and
no one, least of those that are the focus of the article, would be troubled by it.
Animal Farm, a book I read in high school, exemplifies the use of irony in the PostModernism world. The difference of what the animals are aware of and what the readers
recognize is a key element of the plot. For example, the reader knows that the pigs have used the
money from the sale of Boxer to the horse slaughterer to buy whiskey instead of using to help the
other animals. Also, the reader is aware of the real world politics that Animal Farm is satirizing
and thus “knows” more than the rest of the farm animals. The last few pages of the book are
revealing. Here the leaders (e.g., the pigs) of the rebellion against the farmer turn into the farmer
themselves and seek to oppress the other animals. This is a great use of irony by an author
(Cagil, 2014).
A more recently published set of books that illustrates irony that I have read is the Harry
Potter series. How is Harry Potter ironic? In the first book in the series (Harry Potter and
Sorcerer's Stone) when Voldemort hears about a prophecy in which he will be defeated, he
decides he needs to intervene and stop the prophecy from being fulfilled. In the process of trying
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to stop the prophecy from coming to fruition he inadvertently puts the prophecy into effect by
trying to kill Harry; by trying to kill Harry he created the bond with the infant that in the end
helps lead to his (Voldemort’s) death. If he had never tried to kill Harry then there would have
been no fulfillment of the prophecy (Rowlings, 1998). A second example is provided by the last
book in the series (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). In it the book reveals in a
conversation between Dumbledore and Snape that Harry has only been kept alive in order to die
at the right moment (Rowlings, 2007).
The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy (plus two prequels in The Silmarillion and The Hobbit)
which describes a classic battle of good versus evil. It could be considered a Modernist or PostModernist work as the plotting, writing, and rewriting of the books spanned World War One,
World War Two, and the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s. One example of irony in Lord of the
Rings is the story of Denethor. Denethor, trying to commit suicide over the collapse of his family
line due to decisions he has made, vows that the line of the Stewards will end with him.
However, his youngest son Faramir is saved by Pippin and Gandalf from the funeral pyre and
ends up in the Gondorian hospital. There he meets Eowyn of Rohan. They eventually marry and
have children. Thus Denethor's actions to end his family tree actually end up in uniting Faramir
and Eowyn, thus ensuring that his line would, in fact, continue.
Conversely, Sauron’s efforts to regain the Ring, and his own inability to imagine anyone
doing anything with it but seeking power, leads to the Ring’s and Sauron’s destruction. “Well, let
folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the enemy!” says Gandalf at the Council of Elrond.
“….Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may
seek to destroy it.” In the story Sauron imagines Aragorn will take the Ring and try to overthrow
him and become the new dark lord. Sauron cannot / does not imagine any alternative actions by
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the leaders of the West; thus he does not discover Frodo and Sam infiltrating Mordor in order to
destroy the One Ring. One could argue that Sauron ends up being a classically Greek doomed,
tragic hero, great in power and ambition, but with a blind spot that brings about his ironic ruin.
This paper addressed whether the book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is
ironic or not. I do not believe that it is an ironic work of literature. Instead I believe it to be a
book heavy with sarcasm and filled with snide asides to the reader. In defending my position I
have used evidence from the book itself, the author’s own comments and historical and current
novels that display true irony in their plots. When compared with these recognized ironic literary
works, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius fails the irony test.
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Citations
Academia. (2001). What is the difference between Dramatic Irony and Structural Irony?
http://www.academia.edu/3589940/What_is_the_difference_between_Dramatic_I
rony_and_Structural_Irony
Cagil, J. (2007). A powerful tool in storytelling - Dramatic Irony. .http://ezinearticles.com/?APowerful-Tool-in-Storytelling---Dramatic-Irony&id=535350
Dannielle218. (2012). Victorian morality or hypocrisy.
http://victorianscandal.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/victorian-morality-orhypocrisy/
Eggers, D. (2000). A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: A Memoir Based on a True
Story. Simon & Schuster.
Eggers, D. (2001). On second thoughts - part two.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jan/20/extract1
Eggers, D. (2000). Diary of a media hoax: The death of Adam Rich.
http://www.alternet.org/story/7572/diary_of_a_media_hoax%3A_the_death_of_a
dam_rich
Harris, E. (2000). Infinite jest. http://www.thenation.com/article/infinite-jest#
IsItIrony. (2014). Sarcasm, definition, meaning of and examples of sarcasm.
http://www.isitironic.com/sarcasm.htm
Literary Devices. (2014). Irony definition. http://literarydevices.net/irony
Orwell, G. (1996). Animal Farm. Signet Classics.
PBS. (2014). Postmodernism. http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/postm-body.html
Remarque, E. (1987). All Quiet on the Western Front. Ballantine Books.
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Rowlings, J. K. (1998). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Scholastic Press.
Rowlings, J. K. (2007) Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows. Arthur A. Levine Books.
Sophocles. (2002). The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. Harvest
Book.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (2012). The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The
Two Towers, The Return of the King. Del Rey.