Irony Trumps EVERYTHING

EL266

I especially like that Foster stuck this chapter toward the end of the book. It seems fitting to be able to say, oh and by the way, everything you just learned means the opposite sometimes. I though the discussion of Alex from A Clockwork Orange as an ironic Christ-figure was especially entertaining. Overall though, I like how much this chapter ties into everything else, and to be honest, I was already noticing that a lot of the themes, references, etc. discussed in the early chapters of the book helped me to notice connections that were ironic.

Earlier I blogged about Choke by Chuck Palahnuik, in Sex Addicts can be Christ Figures, too. In light of the example of Alex as a ironic Christ-figure, I'd like to revisit the character Victor Mancini, another ironic Christ figure from Choke. As a notoriously promiscuous sexaholic, he in a one sense of the word "loves" everyone. He intentionally chokes in restaurants, so that people can save him. Though this initially is a reversal on the idea of Christ saving others, later in the novel it is discovered that he's been "saving" these people in a way, by boosting their confidence through making them heros. He also doesn't have a father, though later it is revealled that his mother was artificially inseminated (modern immaculate conception) using Christ's DNA obtained from some relic (this bit all ends up being made up by a mad-woman, and ties into another part of the story).