How I Met My Husband- Irony

"How I Met My Husband"
by Alice Munro

The author uses irony in connection with the title of this story.  Situational irony is present because the reader, at some point in the story, expects that Chris Watters would be the husband, but that is not what happens.  The title of the work implies that some male character will be Edie's husband, and since Chris Watters is talked about for multiple pages, and Edie has an attraction for him, it would be natural to expect that Chris becomes her husband.  But when the reader learns a little more about Chris, we realize that he isn't really the marrying type.  This irony is used more for suspense, to keep the reader guessing.  Also, it affects how the reader looks at certain characters.  When I expected Chris to be the husband, I looked at him positively, and was glad when he and Edie were able to interact.  It made me view Edie in a slightly more negative light tho, because she was attracted to a much older, and very flaky man.  But on the last page, "it just struck me: No letter was ever going to come" (Munro, 146).  I had assumed much earlier that this would be the case, but when Edie finally said it, it changed the tone of the story.  The story was almost over and Edie was still not married.  At this point, I feel bad for Edie, but I'm also glad she didn't marry Chris, because he was kind of a sleazball. In the last few paragraphs, it is revealed that Edie ends up marrying the mailman.
Dramatic irony comes into play when Edie's husband tells the story of how she waited for him at the mailbox everyday.  In reality, Edie was waiting for a letter from Chris Watters.  The author uses irony to characterize Edie and the men she interacts with, in addition to contribute to the plot in a way that forms confusion and suspense.  In the end, the irony is a way to show that the person one falls in love with may not always be the one that is expected.