The Irony of John Cowper’s Reappearance - “Dream Children”
Godwin elucidates, "A book lies face down on her lap. She has just read the following: Theodore Dreiser and his friend John Cowper Powys had been dining at Dreiser's place on West Fifty Seventh Street. As Powys made ready to leave and catch his train to the little town up the Hudson, where he was then living, he told Dreiser, "I'll appear before you here, later in the evening." Dreiser laughed. "Are you going to turn yourself into a ghost…After his friend left, Dreiser sat up and read for two hours. Then he looked up and saw Powys standing in the doorway of the living room." Considering that the friends have parted, Powys' reappearance is ironic and unexplainable. The frame narrative about this incident is contributory in convincing Mrs. McNair about the actuality of ghosts. This is one of the incidents which is a component of her imaginary world where she has 'dream babies.' Mrs. McNair believes that ghosts are real which is evident after encountering them in books and it contributes to her encounter with the ghost of her child in the resolution.
The Irony of “I feel Close to you” - “False Lights”
Violet confesses, "I'm going to tell you something very peculiar: I feel close to you. I think about you all the time. When I am walking around the Island, or sitting on the beach by myself, or even- I hope you won't think this perverse- when I am lying in his arms." Violet's feelings for Annette are uncanny considering that they are co-wives who ordinarily would loath each other .Violet's confession ,in a different context, would be interpreted as a communication to a lover. Apparently, Violet is emotionally close to Annette although they are not acquainted with each other.
The Irony of ‘D- minus’ - “Some Side Effects of Time Travel”
Godwin writes, “a little German with bushy red hair, jumped out at her (Gretchen Brown) from behind a tree and said, ‘ Hah! Made it in spite of me, didn’t you?’ (He had given her a D-minus, which wrecked her average forever,). She went to work in a gaudy tropical city for a newspaper that had the second largest advertising in the world.” The D- minus does not define Gretchen Brown’s future and career. Working at a prominent newspaper means that she is an exemplary journalist. The professor had anticipated that by awarding her a low grade, she would not excel. Brown demonstrates that grades are not absolute determinants of one’s success.
The Irony of ‘Gretchen’s Dreams’ - “Some Side Effects of Time Travel”
Godwin writes, “The professor called her (Gretchen’s) mother later and said he really hadn’t like Gretchen very much. When Gretchen’s mother told her this, Gretchen began having erotic dreams about the professor.” The professor’s confirmation about not liking her would have put off her dreams. The ironic dreams depict Gretchen’s infatuation for the professor which she cannot repress. She had anticipated to impress him; hence, the ‘erotic dreams’ mollify her desire for intimacy with the professor. The unconscious desire cannot be diminished by the professor’s aversion for her.
“There was no…men and women” - “Some Side Effects of Time Travel”
Godwin writes, “Before Gretchen went to become a news reporter, she returned to this convent to reaffirm her childhood mooring…Gretchen at twelve had fallen in love with this woman (Mother Maloney) who was then thirty nine… Several years ago Gretchen talked at some length to an Englishman in the Grenadier pub he said there was no such thing as men and women.” Gretchen’s foremost love for a nun depicts the irony of her femaleness. Although she is feminine she is besotted by a female. Her queerness depicts the flaws of the conventional gender classification which assumes that all women are feminine and all males are masculine.
