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Bride Comes To Yellow Sky Irony

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Humor has been a consistent part of literature ever since the development of writing. Whether satirizing some issue or outright mocking it, humor remains extremely popular with authors as well as readers. However, the attitude the author takes toward humor can greatly affect how the reader interprets the story. For example, Crane’s attitude towards Scratchy Wilson in “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” makes the reader feel sympathy for Scratchy and the disappearing Old West amidst the humor of the story. Meanwhile, Twain takes a completely different attitude toward Jacob Blivens in “The Story of the Good Little Boy” by drawing out the absurdity of Jacob’s actions to satirize society. Although these two stories are at first glance simply humorous …show more content…

For example, in “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky,” Scratchy, who is built up as an Old Western villain wears a “flannel shirt” for “the purpose of decoration” from New York, shattering the illusion the reader has of the “intimidating Western criminal,” instead degrading Scratchy to a humorous attempt at villainy. Additionally, the story ends in a surprise twist with the use of situational irony, having the reader expecting a stereotypical Wild West shootout but instead ending with Scratchy shuffling away in the sand when he learns that Potter is married. Although Crane pokes fun at Scratchy’s attempt to terrorize Yellow Sky, Crane still conveys a sympathetic tone towards Scratchy, who is slowly losing his grasp on the Old West ideals. Meanwhile, in Twain’s “The Story of the Good Little Boy,” irony is constantly present throughout Jacob Bliven’s life. For example, the bad boys get away with pushing the blind man into the mud, and when Jacob goes to help he gets whacked in the head instead. Furthermore, Jacob plans “his dying speech” because the boys in the Sunday-school books always made said one, but never gets to say it because of his instantaneous death in the nitro-glycerine explosion. These ironic twists in “The Story of the Good Little Boy” projects an attitude of absurdity from Twain, as through criticizing Jacob’s decision to live as perfectly as in the Sunday-school books. However, the irony in “The Story of the Good Little Boy” adds to the hilarity of Jacob Bliven’s entire life. Despite the fact that the irony in both stories is used mostly for humor, these examples of irony make the reader understand completely different perspectives toward the

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