Sunday in the Park

“The irony of Sunday in the Park”

In the story of Bel Kaufman “Sunday in the Park”, the irony is an element that always stays present in the whole story. The story takes part in a park where a family argues with a big man. The wife, who thinks that his husband is going to solve any problem, realizes that he can´t stands for his family because of a conflict with a big man in the park. Sunday in the park started with a plot in a sandbox where a fat kid who is son of the big man started throwing sand to the other kid, who is son of the couple. The mother is thinking that his son needs to solve his own problems but anyways she takes control of the situation and starts to argue with the big man. Next the big man start to argue with the husband, and the wife thinks that the situation is not a big problem and she doesn't need to think a lot about it but she actually does and she gives a lot of importance. After the husband leaves the place with his family, he try to explain why he didn't do anything with the big man and he try to make some excuses about the situation, but anyways the wife knows that he is a tiny man against a big man and he would not do anything to stop the child. At the end of the story the father says that his wife needs to educate his son or he will do it and she replies at the same way as the big man in the park, “You and who else”. Therefore the irony makes us understand a lot of the plot that occurs in the story, without it, the story will not give us some information to understand some events that occur and some actions that the characters take.