The clock chimed an anxious warnings at a quarter to midnight alerting the children that the deadline had almost arrived mean

That the clock made them realized the deadline was here now for whatever’s they are doing.

honestly, school in itself just seems to be a huge waste of time. a lot of people graduate but still end up not doing anything in college anyways, which really makes the whole point of graduating seem useless. i'd rather not bring anyone's hopes up then. what i'd recommend is for whoever's reading this to simply drop out.

i mean, kanye did it. he said something along the lines of, "don't let society tell you what to do." now, he's obviously a very successful person, and since his album is called the college dropout i guess he never really had to go through all that nonsense in order to become a millionaire. the same goes for anyone else then.

dramatic irony occurs when the reader/audience knows more about a character's situation than the character does. the one main effect is that it gives the reader a sense of superiority, or detached superiority. the reader not only seemingly discovers what is revealed, but feels superior for doing so.