Pushing the boundaries of language as a means of depicting reality in this essay about the Nacirema appear to be sharply defined, yet, upon closer examination of the text, we find that the author takes us through the looking glass and into a twilight zone where words can be spelled backwards to reveal their true meaning and routine activities take on the distorted aura of the grotesque. (PLEASE DONT SEND ME A LINK I CAN'T OPEN)

a) Verbal irony is the use of words to suggest an opposite meaning. What are the different ways in which Miner employs verbal irony?

b) Express the effect of these uses of verbal irony on you as you read the text.

c) Situational irony is when circumstances run contrary to expectations. Explain how situational irony is brought into play by the author.

d) What is the effect of his usage of situational irony on you the reader?

e) Examine how Miner uses verbal and situational irony to depict a primitive tribe and its extreme cultural practices, which we see as other due to their extreme cultural practices.

f) What does he do in the text to designate the Nacirema as other?

g) How does he reveal to us that they are not entirely unfamiliar?