Situational Irony In 'The Ransom Of Red Chief'

Situational Irony

Surprise is the feeling of shock that arises when something unexpected happens. Situational irony uses this feeling to its advantage and many writers use it in their stories to provide a plot twist; something that the audience would have never normally expected. When situational irony is used, it not only provides a feeling of shock but also another feeling to go along with it. For instance, in the short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry, the feeling of shock is accompanied by laughter because the plot twist is quite humorous. Another example would be in the story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, the twist involves a sense of pity for the main heroine. By examining these two short stories, it is evident that

Henry, the use of situational irony provides a sense of humor. To illustrate, when professional criminal masterminds Bill and Sam try to kidnap a boy by the name of Johnny Dorset they assume he is easy prey, when in reality he is the devil. This leads to the point where both Bill and Sam are afraid of Red Chief. Sam’s fear is clear to the audience when Bill states “‘You’re afraid. You was to be burned at sunrise, and you was afraid he’d do it (43).’” This proves that Sam, although he tries to seem cool and level-headed, is just as afraid of Johnny as his partner in crime. Bill shows his fear when Sam says to the audience “I was awakened by a series of awful screams from Bill… they were simply indecent, terrifying, humiliating screams, such as women emit when they see caterpillars… Red Chief was sitting on Bill’s chest, with one hand twined in Bill’s hair. In the other he had the sharp case knife we used for slicing bacon; and he was industriously and realistically trying to take Bill’s scalp (42).” Of course, this is absolutely ghastly to Bill for he fears his life to be on the line. But his pain and agony is a form of amusement for the reader because it is ironic that a burly man such as himself would be so afraid of a young boy barely the age of 10. One other example of the humor in “The Ransom of Red Chief” is that in the end, Bill and Sam ended up paying ransom for returning Johnny rather than the other way around as they had

To demonstrate, the main character Mathilde Loisel believes that she deserves to be the richest of the rich despite being already pretty well off. Instead of her wish coming true, she ends up becoming the poorest of the poor. After losing her friend Jeanne Forestier’s diamond necklace at a gala she has attended, Mathilde and her husband buy a replica so it would seem nothing was wrong. However, this course of events brings them poverty for the replacement necklace costs 36,000 francs. They were forced to sell their grand home and move to a flat at the top of the building where they work hard every day. Mathilde was no longer as beautiful and youthful as before, the author states “Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become like all the other strong, hard, coarse women of poor households (7).” Her husband now works two jobs while Mathilde scrubbed the floor and washed the dirty linen by hand when before they had a maid to do their laundry. Furthermore, to make the situation even more ironic, this harsh life could have been easily avoided. As Mathilde was deciding which necklace to wear to the gala, she faces a variety of beautiful golds and riches that cost more than she could ever imagine. The one she chose from the noble collection, however, was the cheapest one. Though the diamond necklace may look beautiful, it was made with faux diamonds. Upon finding