Situational irony is when events happen that seem to be the opposite of what is expected. For example, in O.Henry’s short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” he uses situational irony to create humor for his audience. Also in Guy de Maupassant short story “The Necklace” he uses situational irony to produce a feeling of sympathy. By examining these two short stories, it is clear that author’s utilize situational irony to affect the reader’s emotions
The short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O.Henry uses humor to affect the reader. For example, Red Chief is not like all kids who are kidnapped and want to go home. When he is kidnapped Red Chief enjoys being with Sam and Bill. The two robbers Bill and Sam feels frustrated with Red Chief. Red Chief
What is irony? The dictionary definition of irony is a difference in what is expected and what happens. The situational irony in the Ransom of Red Chief creates humor and develops a theme by Red Chief's father being paid to take his own son back. The irony in the story is entertaining by developing an unexpected ending. In the ending, the kidnappers, Sam and Bill, pay the father to take his son back.
A final example of situational irony is when “Red Chief’s” father responds to the ransom note. The reader expects that the father will be frantic or worried about getting his child home safely, and be willing to pay a ransom for getting his son back into his own care. Again, the father does not react as expected, instead he knows that his son is not tolerable for a long period of time as which means he is not worried about his child very much due to they will be willing to
Imagine someone spends their entire life working hard towards becoming a divorce lawyer and then they suddenly are facing the same problem they are meant to help find a solution for, divorce. This is an example of an ironic situation. Irony is used in many different forms of literature and by many different authors and writers to highlight and focus on important aspects of their work. Ironic situations provide more information to the reader and allow revelations to be made within the story. For instance, an author who uses this literary technique is Richard Connell in one of his most well-known short stories, “The Most Dangerous Game”.
This is also called an irony of events. The outcome can be serious or humorous. The function of situational irony is to lay emphasis on important scenes and make strange and unusual images vivid. It creates an unexpected turn at the end of a story and makes audience laugh or cry. Therefore, situational irony could be tragic or funny.
Edgar Allan Poe creates horror and suspense in his use of irony -including verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony-in his short story “ The Tell-Tale Heart”. Verbal irony is when something that is said means the opposite of what is meant. Poe uses verbal irony when he states, “ I loved the old man.” Situational irony is similar. It is defined as when what happens is different from or even the opposite of what we expected.
Situational irony occurs when what actually happens is the
In “Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, there is situational irony when brother comes back for Doodle to find him dead. This added greatly to make the plot more complex. Lastly, situational irony is used in “Gift of the Magi” when Della and
A situational irony is an irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended. The Republicans and Free Staters are enemies. The Sniper is on the Republican’s side and the Sniper’s brother is on the Free Stater’s side. It will be dangerous for the protagonist to smoke because it will blow his cover from the light from the lighter.
Situational irony is when something opposite and surprising of an action happens then what was initially expected. A story that we read that has a form of situational
Situational irony is an important tool that many authors use to create an unexpected twist in a story. This device is mainly used to produce surprise, but can also create a variety of other emotions. For instance, in “The Ransom of Red Chief,” O. Henry used situational irony to amuse and surprise the reader. Also, in “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant utilised situational irony to make the reader feel sympathetic after an unexpected twist in the plot. By analyzing these two stories, it is easy to see that authors employ the tool of situational irony to affect readers’ emotions.
Irony is an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects. The story “Ruthless” by William de Mille tells the story of a man who leaves a bottle of poisoned whiskey for the unknown people who have been entering his house while he is away. The author advocates irony to introduce the central idea of what goes around, comes around. In the narrative, the protagonist, Judson Webb, does and says things that recoile back onto himself, leading him to his death.
One example of situational irony is first, the name “Fortunato” means “Fortunate” in Italian, but Fortunato is actually very unfortunate. Next, the word “cask” means “wine barrel,” but coffin also comes from the same word. So in other words, Fortunato believes he will reach a cask of wine, but in all actuality he will reach his coffin. Also, another great example of situational irony comes when Montresor has just dismembered Fortunato and exits the catacombs. Then, Montresor claims, “My heart grew sick-“(240).
The situational irony in “The Ransom of Red Chief”, by O. Henry, implies a humorous effect on the reader. One example in the story, is the boy enjoys being kidnapped, and ends up torturing Bill. Getting the boy to the cave at first was hard for the criminals, but once the boy got there, he started having fun. He loved camping out and pretending they were Indian chiefs. “‘Red Chief,’ says I to the kid, ‘would you like to go home?’
Irony is an incredible part of literature. It can be something the reader knows, but a character does not. It can be a significant thing a character says. It can also be a coincidence. Irony is such a great addition to literature that O. Henry and Edgar Allen Poe used it in their short stories “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Cask of Amontillado”, respectively.
Only 4% of kidnappings involve demanding a ransom (https://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/nismart/03/ns4.html). The Ransom of Red Chief, by O. Henry follows one of these more uncommon kidnappings. In the story two poor men kidnap a boy and hold him in a cave to ransom him. As the story moves on the boy causes more and more trouble, and there are several twists and turns, all highlighted by O. Henry's irony. O. Henry uses all three types of irony to drive the story.