Situational Irony In 'The Ransom Of 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 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.

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”.

Situational irony is irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected. dramatic irony is used a lot within books, plays, and movies. It is when the audience is aware of something that the characters in the story are not aware of. Within this paper, I will demonstrate on how Ray Bradbury utilizes irony within the novel Fahrenheit 451. First example of situational irony would most likely be with the firefighters in this novel.

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

Robert A.Heinlein once said “The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out alive”. Irony is powerful and can majorly affect someone’s life and emotions. Authors use situational irony to create an unexpected twist in the plot of the story. This grabs the reader's attention and also leaves the reader intrigued. For example the situational irony in “The Ransom of Red chief” by O.Henry gives the reader a humorous emotion, and the situational irony in “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant uses situational irony to make the readers feel sympathy.

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.

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?’

Situational irony is a noun meaning “an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does” (Dictionary.com). Many events that contain situational irony are present in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This book is a story narrated by Death about a girl named Liesel and her experiences during World War II. She is givin up by her mother to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann and she eventually has a wonderful life in her new home. She loves to spend time with her best friend Rudy Steiner and she even becomes friends with the Jewish man hiding in her basement, Max.

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

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.

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.

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.