Irony and Pity

"'Irony and Pity. When you're feeling... Oh, Give them Irony and Give them Pity. Oh, Give them Irony. When they're feeling... Just a little irony. Just a little pity...' He kept on singing until he came down-stairs."

I suspect that "Irony and Pity" is the name of that song as well as the refrain because that's generally what people remember of a song, and it looks as though Bill has forgotten most of the rest of the words. Bill wants Jake to use more irony and pity, but it's not natural to Jake, so Bill is... singing about it. I suppose this is more indirect characterization, as it doesn't do much for the plot.

Chapter twelve contains a significant amount of imagery, as well, which mostly appears on pages 122 and 124. The wild strawberries and tumbling river paint a vivid picture in the readers' minds, which seems to be appreciated in the world of literary classics.

Also, I talked to Mary yesterday and the day before, and she put me on the lookout for an allusion to the Scopes trial that she caught, and I think I found it. "'First the egg,' said Bill. 'Then the chicken. Even Bryan could see that.'" President William Jennings Bryan opposed the teaching of evolution in schools, and Bill means that even Bryan knew that the egg must come before the chicken, even if he didn't believe in the evolution of various eggs.... I don't think I said that clearly, so I will link to this page, which I just tried to read after looking back at my copy of the book, in which I cryptically circled "Bryan" repeatedly.