Dramatic Irony
The plot of the story is dependent upon dramatic irony which is when the reader possesses important knowledge that characters in the story do not. The narrator makes it clear that Reverend Lee “was not aware of what he was doing and therefore he never thought to correct himself.” That readers aware of his back-to-front recurrence of dyslexia while he remains oblivious is an example of a plot being constructed on a foundation of dramatic irony.
A Fairy Tale in Nibbleswicke
The story opens in the time-honored tradition of fairy tales: “Once upon a time there lived in England a charming and God-fearing vicar called The Reverend Lee.” The irony here is that this story contains almost no elements commonly associated with such literature: after a brief flashback to a relatively recent point in time, the narrative takes place in the present-day, there are no examples of magic, enchantment or the supernatural, the leading character is a small-town minister rather than a member of a royal family, and no dastardly villain.
Miss Arabella Prewt
Reverend Lee’s first day on the job as the new vicar of the church in Nibbleswick starts with following the instructions left for him in a note written by the church’s verger; a sort of office assistance to the minister. One might naturally assume that the very first people a new vicar would meet might be, say, the neediest of the church’s parishioners. Instead, the vicar is sent to the “wealthiest and most fervent supporter of the church.” This may or may not necessarily be intended as irony by Dahl. Or, more precisely, this may be an example of irony because the author does not intend for it be viewed ironically. That Arabella’s last name reverses into the word “twerp” could be a clue.
“The Haven”
A much more substantial clue as to whether the vicar being sent to the meet the richest member of the church first lies in the irony of her home. Arabella—not surprisingly—is one of those people who names their home: “The Haven.” A haven is defined as a place of sanctuary for those who are oppressed and protection for those feeling danger. Miss Prewt is described as having a “mouth like the blade of a knife,” owns an aggressive little dog that growls at strangers and slams the door in the face of a man who seems like he might be a foreigner having trouble with English. “The Haven” is a haven only in the ironic sense.
Scatological trumps Sacrilegious
There is a certain irony in the manifestation of Rev. Lee’s Back-to-Front Dyslexia in which he pronounces certain words backwards that finally cause the congregation to become more upset than entertained by his peculiarity. “The bombshell” arrives not during a sermon, but rather during secular “announcements.” In this case, he is talking about the problem with where the congregation should park and that word comes out backward: “If you all krap at the same time all along the side of the road you could be hit by a passing car.” It is the unintentional scatological humor that finally causes a problem, ironically, rather than the fact that during his sermons he has been routinely referring to God Almighty as “dog Almighty.”
