Authors use situational irony to surprise the reader and change the emotion. For example in “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O.Henry situational irony is used to create a humorous emotion for the reader. Also “The Necklace” a short story by Guy de Maupassant creates a feeling of pity for mathilde when she loses everything. The twists that the authors use creates a more enjoyable story to read. If stories went as expected then they would be boring, and no one would read them. When a child is kidnapped they typically feel fear, and the kidnappers feel joy because they get their ransom. However, in “The Ransom of Redchief” the roles are reversed causing a humorous situational irony. The boy Johnny terrorizes his captors Sam and Bill when he
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.
As the story clarifies, this is what the kidnappers anticipate will happen. However, after no longer being able to withstand the annoying child, both kidnappers agree to give Ebenezer Dorset 250 dollars to return the child. Bill reveals just how much of a nuisance the child is when saying, “‘What’s two
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”.
Irony brings about some additional meanings to a situation. Ironical statements and situations in literature develop readers’ interest. Irony makes a work of literature more intriguing and forces the readers to use their imagination and comprehend the underlying meanings of the texts. Moreover, real life is full of ironical expressions and situations. Therefore, the use of irony brings a work of literature closer to the life.
In “The Ransom of the Red Chief” by O. Henry there is a bunch of ironies. One example of Irony that can be found in this short story is “There was a town down there, as flat as a flannel-cake (pancake), and called Summit, of course.” (Henry 5-6). To know if this an example of irony we must analyze the sentence. There was a town down there (implying that the town is under where they are standing), as flat as a pancake flannel-cake, and called Summit (peak of a mountain), of course.
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
In literature, as in life, things are not always as they appear to be. Most short stories from this unit support this statement. Irony is the characters words or actions are obvious to us but not to the other character. “The Landlady”, by Roald Dahl had a ironic plot. In The Landlady, the main character, Billy Weaver, got poisoned, then stuffed by the landlady of the motel that he was staying at in Bath, England.
O Henry has a very unique writing style. One of his writing styles is irony/plot twists, which is when something happens that is the exact opposite of what was expected. The Ransom of Red Chief is a story where the main characters kidnapped a kid to get money. In this part of The Ransom of Red Chief Ebenezer Dorset tells them how to give his kid back to him. When on page 6 Ebenezer Dorset says, "You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty in cash, and I agree to take him off your hands.
Henry, “The Ransom of Redchief,” O. Henry uses situational irony to create a humorous feeling. In the beginning, the narrator Sam and his partner in crime, Bill, decided to kidnap a small town boy of a nicer family to collect the ransom. The boy they choose is Johnny Dorset, son of Ebenezer Dorset. Once Johnny has been kidnapped, he starts to enjoy the life of being a kidnapped child because he is having so much fun. Johnny pleads to Sam, also known as Snake-Eye, to not take him back home.
Situational irony, dramatic irony, and verbal irony are used in stories like “The Cask Of Amontillado”, and “The Story of an Hour” to express emotion, make a story more interesting, and give a true meaning to a story. Situational irony was used in the stories “The Story of an Hour”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, and “The Sniper” to add surprise and express the unexpected. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the wife, Mrs.Mallard, just received the news her husband died and she went into a room and stared out the window. When she did this the author said “ she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window” (Chopin 2). The situational irony in this is that we, as the readers, thought she would feel revitalized and ready to take on the world, but she dies on the next page.
Irony may appear in difference ways within literature. Irony changes our expectations of what might happen. It can create the unexpected twist at the end of a story or anecdote that gets people laughing or crying. Verbal irony is intended to be a humorous type of irony. Situational irony can be either funny or tragic.
Red Chief’s dad wanted Bill and Sam to pay him $250 to return Red Chief home. There were also some differences in the movie and story. In the story they offered Red Chief candy, but in the movie they did not. Red Chief also did not throw at rock at Bill like he did in the story. In the movie, the ransom note was delivered by a child.
The story and the movie “The Ransom of Red Chief” have a bunch of differences. In the movie, Sam tells a random kid to send a letter to Mr. Dorset. But in the story, Sam took the letter to the post office and a mail man took it to Mr. Dorset. Another difference is that in the story, the kidnappers offered Johnny Dorset some candy and kidnapped him. But in the movie, the kidnappers didn’t offer him candy and just put him in a trunk.
Irony is often used in literature to illustrate certain situations to the audience. In some pieces of literature that might be pointing out an unjust system, in others that might be to add a comedic effect, but whatever situation the author wants to illustrate, irony is very beneficial. Through small and witty, one-liners, or a bigger dramatic irony situation contrasting two very different situations, irony can be very beneficial for the reader to understand the story. Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins have a corrupt dystopian society. Through the use of irony, the author can portray the corruptness to the audience.
O. Henry (1867 – 1910), an American writer, who is famous mainly for his short stories. These stories usually focus on the image of the poor who spends their daily living to earn. Perhaps O. Henry knows so well about this kind of life that his stories always convey the heartfelt sympathy with the characters. Besides his sympathy, he expresses his humor through every story so that his stories always contain unexpected climaxes, which lead to an amazing ending. Some of his celebrated stories are “the Ransom of Red Chief”, “The Cop and the Anthem”, “A retrieved Reformation”, “The Duplicity of Hargraves”, “The Caballero’s Way”, and especially “The Gift of the Magi”.