Read the following excerpt from Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi:

Once a day a cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from Keokuk. Before these events, the day was glorious with expectancy; after them, the day was a dead and empty thing.
Which comedic technique does this excerpt best illustrate?
A. Sarcasm
B. Hyperbole
C. Understatement
D. Irony