"That was the funny thing about beauty, thought Zoe. Look it up in the yellow pages, and you found a hundred entries, hostile with wit, cutesy with warning. But look up truth - ha! There was nothing at all." (p. 362)
Sarcasm and irony - two of my favorite things! And I'm not being sarcastic.
In the excerpt above, Zoe describes the irony of our media-obsessed world. Every magazine placed on the shelves at Target include tips on "beauty" - how to get skinny fast, make your face glow, or get the latest looks; however, what really defines beauty? This sounds extremely cliche, but is anything posted in magazines actually the truth? With the internet, magazines, newspaper, television, Twitter, and Facebook, news on so called beauty spreads quickly, but the truth about beauty is hard to find. Throughout the story, Zoe struggles with how she looks because she is constantly comparing herself to her sister. Zoe relies on her sarcasm to keep her own mind clear of negative, depressing thoughts. Sarcasm and irony are Zoe's ways of avoiding reality. Zoe's discovery of this irony in the modern world helps her to focus not on her own flaws, but the flaws of society.
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