The Irony of of Zitkala-Sa’s Mother’s smile - “Mother”
When Zitkala-sa inquiries about her mother’s tears, her mother responds, "Hush; my little daughter must never talk about my tears"; and smiling through them, she patted my head and said.” The smiles, conventionally correlated with pleasure, are ironic because they do not exemplify cheerfulness. The smiles are a mask to camouflage her mother’s melancholy.
The Irony of Zitkala-Sa chasing her shadow - “The Beadworks”
Zitkala-Sa remembers, “On one occasion I forgot the cloud shadow in a strange notion to catch up with my own shadow. Standing straight and still, I began to glide after it, putting out one foot cautiously.” Chasing one’s shadow is vain. So, Zitkala-Sa’s action of pursuing her shadow is ironic; nevertheless, it expounds the interrelated-ness between her body and the shadow.
