How Does O. Henry Use Situational Irony

Authors use situational irony to create surprise for the reader. The author creates surprise for the reader through events in the plot. Situational irony is when there is an unexpected twist in the course of a story. O. Henry produces the emotion humor through situational irony in “The Ransom of Redchief.” Also, Guy de Maupassant creates the emotion sympathy for the reader using situational irony throughout the story “The Necklace.” By examining these two stories, it is clear that authors utilize situational irony to affect readers’ emotions. Guy de Maupassant in “The Necklace” uses situational irony to create the emotion sympathy when She was at the ball and she was having the time of her life, “Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs

Subsequently, the reader can make different predictions on what will occur throughout Don’t Get Caught, and the ability to predict and analyze uniquely is one of the principal ideals of Postmodernist literature. Ultimately, the central purpose of an author’s novel is to engross the reader, by writing in a genre and movement that is appropriate the book. Appropriately, Kurt Dinan engages the reader with both a Mystery genre and Postmodernist elements in his novel, Don’t Get Caught. Postmodernists believe that traditional authority is false and corrupt, and the central theme of Don’t Get Caught is that the powerful students play pranks and humiliate the less influential students. There exists a social elite club known as the Chaos Club that plays pranks on the school and faculty, and nobody can figure out the leader of the club is or who the members’ are.

Thurber uses imagery in a very central manner throughout the story, he uses it to almost tell an alternate story in which is Walters daydreams. To sum it all up, he also effectively uses imagery to describe the characters, settings, characterization, and character outfits. Thurber also illustrates the effect of dramatic irony; he uses irony to portray the contrast of Walters daydreams to his actual life, such as Walter being the hero in his dreams but in reality, he is laughed upon by his

The family's treacherous journey to Jefferson is filled with danger and excitement, yet Faulkner gives many doses of humor throughout the novel. The characters employ themselves in outrageous acts of irony, from Addie's rejection of her most devoted son, to Anse's concern with his false teeth instead of Addie's death, to Vardaman's calling his mother a fish. This irony would not have been evident if it were not for Faulkner's use of multiple narrators. Faulkner was enchanted by Freudian theories of psychology when he wrote this novel, and recounting the story through various perspectives allows the reader to understand each character's reaction. This enhanced the dark humor throughout the novel because the reader can see into each family member's thoughts on her death.

In the short story "Young Goodman Brown," the author really grabs the reader's attention with some confusion and hope. The author Nathaniel Hawthorne leads the reader into being confused at first and making them wonder what all he is saying really means. Hawthorne grabs the attention of the reader with the confusion and the hope to find out what will happen next. The short story "Young Goodman Brown" is mainly defined as a suspenseful story yet the story expressed a great amount of symbolism with many lessons for the reader to take in. The author expresses that having faith is very important asset for both men and women and the ones without faith will face problems that can break you as a person.

Surprise can be used in many ways to conjure numerous emotions from the audience. Authors normally use a device called situational irony to provoke surprise, but surprise can come in different ways. Guy de Maupassant in “The Necklace” uses situational irony to elicit a feeling of sympathy from the reader. In “The Ransom of Redchief” by O. Henry, O. Henry uses situational irony to create a humorous surprise for the reader. After reading these two stories, it is obvious that authors use situational irony to get the readers feeling a specific way.

He used the novel to get across many points, but he also introduced a larger theme that is still relevant today: A person’s morals will often differ from what society views as correct. He developed this theme using a variety of literary devices, such as conflict, language, and satire. He seemed to have a great understanding for these devices and how they could impact the story he was portraying. Twain took views that went against society's beliefs, similar to many people at this time, which came across especially in his portrayal of Huck. All things considered, Mark Twain did an excellent job promoting the theme that drove his

Lamb to the Slaughter is an action packed short story about a wife who is let down by her husband and proceeds to kill him as an act of revenge. Obviously much more happens in this story consisting of humour, action, mystery and irony. Roald Dahl is a master of writing short stories in ways that attract readers, draw them into what is happening through using literary elements and universal themes to make the story relatable to the readers. In this story the main literary elements were foreshadowing, situation and dramatic irony, imagery and symbolism which really drew me in and kept me attached to the story. Literary elements are what make a story powerful and attracts readers to continue reading in the story and in this story they highlight the universal theme of Revenge and Betrayal.

In any work of fiction, there is bound to be a character who undergoes major changes in his personality and tries to fulfill his/her inner potential. Often times, as is the case with many of these novels, main characters in works like these mirror the inner thoughts and aspirations of the authors, giving anecdotal evidence and experiences via personal storytelling. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger explores this theme via a first-person narrative, carefully crafting and weaving stories and small details to invite the reader to sympathize in Holden Caulfield’s experience. Although critics often “complain of the novel’s pedestrian content,” in reality, personal storytelling and integrating themes into dialect is different from pedestrian, uninteresting content because of the nuances embedded within the text (Roemer 5). In his first description of Allie, although the passage is just a “pedestrian” description, the sheer difficulty of opening up and exploring themes subtly comes up via Salinger’s syntax, diction, and tone of the passage.

Stories with a little bit of edge but a major symbolic meaning are the type of stories in which people are entertained. In the story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses imagery, allegories, and symbols to not only entertain his audience but to teach them a life lesson. This story is one where you have to dig a little deeper to really reveal the true meaning that Hawthorne is trying to portray. I believe the symbolic meaning of this story is that we all have evil in our hearts and are all victims of it. In the beginning of this story Young Goodman Brown informs his wife he is going on a late night journey.