"Pearl Harbor Echoes in Seattle," reveals Monica Sone's account of the effects caused by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As a Japanese-American, Sone discloses the tragedy of the event and how it effected her family and friends. One major theme in the story is the irony of being American and being treated with injustice and inequality. Because of the incident at Pearl Harbor, Sone's family underwent prejudice for being Japanese. Sone and her siblings physically looked Japanese but were born in America. Being born between two cultures, Sone writes about her inner and outer conflict with being treated as an alien and enemy in her own native country. Sone successfully portrays this theme through irony. She creates irony by using contrasting devices and dialogue. Though contrast and dialogue, Sone creates a clear voice to convey her central theme.
             Sone uses irony to create vivid contrasts that make her story more dynamic. She begins the story with an opening sentence that creates contrasting suspense. She writes, "On a peaceful Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, Henry, Sumi, and I were at choir rehearsal singing ourselves hoarse in preparation for the annual Christmas recital [ . . . ]"(122). Sone sets up a voice that suggests that the "peaceful Sunday morning" is a prelude to a climactic event. The specific date of the bombing of Pearl Harbor adds to the irony of such horrific event beginning so peacefully. Like a movie using silence to prepare the viewer for the surprise, Sone uses the word "peaceful" to create the dramatic contrast to what's to come in the story.
             Another example of Sone's use of irony is when she describes her brother Henry driving after she and Henry find out the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She states, "Usually Henry was a careful driver, but that morning he bore down savagely on the accelerator. Boiling angry, he shot us up Twelfth Avenue, rammed through the busy Jackson Street intersection, and rocketed up the Beac...