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Situational Irony In Josh Pachter's Invitation To A Murder

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Situational Irony In Josh Pachter's Invitation To A Murder
Within the short story “Invitation to a Murder” by Josh Pachter, there were numerous examples of situational irony—situations that involve an unexpected twist. The first example of situational irony was the title. People generally would not send out invitations for witnessing a murder. Usually, people would want to have no witnesses if they were committing murder. This is symbolic and represents how the rest of the story is interlaced with situation irony. Another example of situational irony is Eleanor Madeline Abbott inviting twelve well-known and highly esteemed law enforcers to her husband’s murder. This is extremely ironic because there were twelve men invited to the home; twelve people serve on a jury. In turn, the group of men acted

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