Ella the white protagonist of "Happy Event", has perceptions that are limited by her attitudes and prejudices. She believed she was wise to hire servants who belonged to the same tribe, but "always felt puzzled and rather peevish, then, when, as had happened often before, she found that her two Basutos or two Zulus o two Xhosas did not necessarily get on any better than one would have expected two Frenchman to get on simply because both were French; or two Englishmen simply because both were English"

Question

Refer to the previous quotation and answer the following.
a) Identify and explain the irony of Ella's belief about her servants.
b) Explain what this passage reveals about the stereotyped social attitude held by Whites and Blacks in South Africa at that time.

Please help it is only for 2 marks answer does not have to be in detail just need a brief explanation

Answer 1

http://www.google.com/webhp?source=search_app#bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&fp=e1f935c9ca2dbb92&q=irony+definition

Study those definitions of irony, and then post what you think.

Answer 2

for b) is it that white people only got along with white people and blacks got along with blacks and each race can not get along with each other. is that a possible stereotype?

for a) Ella believed that only the same races which work together get along. does it sound right?

Answer 3

Yes -- but I think you can carry it further. She believed that each tribe or nationality got along only with others of that same tribe. Of course she was wrong.