Irony: A Scene in the MRT train on Youth Day

I was heading towards Jurong to discuss my project work. It was a bright morning, the sun was warm, the wind brought a caressing touch on my tender skin. Deep in the MRT carriage, I took out a book to read. All of a sudden, a shrill scream pierce my ears. It was from an Indian woman. My smooth and tranquiling morning had been disrupted by a rough stone.

The elderly was pushing a wheelchair in which his husband is sitting in. The old elderly man in the wheelchair looks fragile and confused and his right leg seemed sprained. His wife was chiding a Chinese teenage boy slightly older than me. "You are an evil person!! How can you hit his leg?? Can't you see he is sick? Do you know he has a stroke? And his leg is injured. You are such a cruel person! F*** You!!" Everyone in the carriage was staring at the young man and the Indian woman. It seemed that the commotion began when the boy accidentally bumping into the old man in the wheelchair. The young man was peering around at the train embarrassedly and trying to explain to the Indian lady that he did not actually did that on purpose. "F*** off! Cruel person. You did that on purpose didn't you? Didn't you? You tell me! Look at me! Can't you see he is a sick man?? ****! Get away from here!" I was pretty shocked by her use of vulgarities and her sharp piercing accusation. She seemed so old but do not look fragile at all. The dispute continued and finally, after a series of screams and curses from the old lady, she alighted at the next stop from which she boarded.

I feel that the elderly lady was over-reacting. I understand that her husband meant a lot for her, but I felt that she failed to comprehend the fact that the teenage boy has no intention of harming an elderly man (sitting on a wheelchair). The elderly woman is probably slightly senile and therefore displayed such an outrage towards the innocent boy. If I were the boy, I would have moved to some other places in the MRT carriage. This would probably stop her from screaming and disturbing other commuters.

The first irony I noticed is that the teenage boy has probably suffered a most painful ordeal just in the morning of youth day. A day when he is supposed to enjoy, relax and have fun. This is a situational irony.

The second irony I noticed is that, the elderly woman seemed to be doing more harm and damage to her vulnerable husband with her wild screaming. On the other hand, the teenage boy had only touched the man gently. This is also a situational irony.

The last irony I noticed from the scene is from the woman's words. Initially, she told the boy to "**** off". After that she told the boy to look at her in her eyes and answer her question. And when the boy answered her question from his point-of-view, the woman doesn't seem to hear him and argued ferociously. This is a verbal irony.