The Irony of “Horses love conversation”
Steinbeck writes, “He (Billy Buck) told him (Jody) how horses love conversations. He must talk to the pony at all the time, and tell him the reasons for everything.” The horses’ penchant for conversations is ironic for it is only humans with the ability to conduct conversations. The ironic love portrays horses as sociable animals with impressive listening abilities. Furthermore, the horses are idyllic company for lonesome folks for they would pay attention to them unreservedly.
“Not Likely to rain today”
Billy Bucker assures Jody, “Not likely to rain today. She rained herself out.” The assurance stimuluses Jody’s verdict to leave the pony at corral. However, the assurance is ironic since, “he was wrong about the weather for that day, for a little after noon the clouds pushed over the hills and the rain began to pour down.” Billy’s ironic guarantee accentuates the subjectivity of weather extrapolations. Billy is not unequivocally flawless in making precise weather forecasts.
