Situational Irony In The Ransom Of Red Chief

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.

In the short story “The Ransom of Redchief” by O.Henry there is situational irony to create humor and excitement. The main character Johnny got kidnapped and was having the time of his life. He never wanted to go back home or to school. When he was making trouble at the camp the two kidnappers Bill and Sam ask him if he wanted to go back home but he does not want to “‘Aw what for’ says he’ I don’t have any fun at home.”’ (41).

Most of the time Surprises can be a good thing but with situational irony surprises can come in many forms. Situational irony is when the story has a twist. For example in Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” readers get a sense of horror when they find out that the lottery is not infact a raffle for prizes, but a raffle for who will be stoned to death. Situational irony is also shown in the short story “The necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. In this story though we are presented with a feeling of sympathy When the necklace Mathilde lost and became poor over was really just an imitation and she had worked for nothing.

Situational irony is used to shock the reader and bring about a feeling of pity from the audience. In the Ransom of Red Chief, by O. Henry, the irony is that the young boy, Johnny is rather excited to be snatched by abductors rather than fearful like most, Which has a humorous effect on the reader. In The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant the situational irony is that the main character, Mathilde is proven to be a “fake”. She lives the first ten years of her life in a feeling of agony instead of doing something useful in the world, which is a depressing point of view on situational irony. Which is unlike the The Ransom Of Red Chief which is a humorous and more comical version of situational irony.

Situational irony is an unexpected plot twist in the story which is used by authors to create surprise and feelings. Many authors use this device such as O.Henry in “The Ransom of Red chief” a humorous story and Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace,” a story that creates sympathy in the reader. By investigating the two stories, “The Ransom of Red chief” and “The Necklace,” it is clear that author’s use situational irony several times in their stories to change the way readers feel about the character or characters. O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red chief” is a humorous short story that has several great examples of situational irony.

Situational Irony Surprise is the feeling of shock that arises when something unexpected happens. Situational irony uses this feeling to its advantage and many writers use it in their stories to provide a plot twist; something that the audience would have never normally expected. When situational irony is used, it not only provides a feeling of shock but also another feeling to go along with it. For instance, in the short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry, the feeling of shock is accompanied by laughter because the plot twist is quite humorous. Another example would be in the story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, the twist involves a sense of pity for the main heroine.

Bill Nye once said, “Humor is everywhere in that there's irony in just about anything a human does.” Bill Nye touches on the fact that irony is just something we can’t escape in our day to day life. Irony is also a large part of literature and movies. In the story “The Cask of the Amontillado” the main character Montresor is murdering a man deep underground, while a joyful parade is going on above. This is situational irony, one of three types of irony in literature and life.

Unexpected surprises are usually a good thing, but sometimes they are not. Many authors enjoy using situational irony to surprise their readers. Not only does it astonish their readers it can also create other emotions. In particular, Guy de Maupassant uses situational irony to make his readers feel justice to the main character in his short story “The Necklace.” Also, O.Henry uses situational irony to form humor in his short story “The Ransom of Redchief.”

The enticing short stories, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant and “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry, leave the reader aware of situational irony and the selection of emotional affects it can produce. O. Henry uses situational irony in the hilarious short story, “ The Ransom of Red chief” to deliver a humorous affect to the reader. For instance, the kid that Bill and Sam kidnap

There are three types of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic. Situational irony occurs when the actual result of a situation is different from what you would expect the result to be. Writers use irony because it inverts our expectations, creating an unexpected twist at the end of the story. In the stories “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin” irony is used to help achieve meaning.

Reading both “The Necklace” and “The Ransom of Redchief” I’ve examined that the authors use the situational irony in both stories to change the reader's feelings about the plot and the characters. In “The Necklace”, Mathilde Loisel has a couple of situational ironies involving the necklace she borrowed from her friend. “The Ransom of Redchief” has many situational ironies that involve Johnny AKA Redchief. Mathilde Loisel in the story “The Necklace” is very unfortunate after losing Mademe Forier’s necklace. One of the situational ironies in “The Necklace” is that she wants to be beautiful and rich, but she becomes the opposite.

Verbal irony is when a person says something other than what they mean. Situational irony is when one thing is expected, but the exact opposite happens, and dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the characters do not. Both The Interlopers, and The Story of an Hour make use of situational irony. The Story of an Hour is when the husband is said to have died, but at the end, the wife dies when the husband walks in the door alive and well. (Chopin 1, 2.)

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.

Also, in “The Ransom of Redchief,” O. Henry creates a humorous feeling to the reader by using situational irony. By reading these two short story it is clear that both authors use situational irony to make the reader feel a different emotion than surprise. In Guy de Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace,” he creates situational irony that makes the reader

Irony is defined as the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite. In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” there are several examples of irony. In fact, the title itself is ironic in that so many unexpected accounts happen in the life of Louise Mallard in the small amount of sixty minutes. Irony usually contains an incongruity. Therefore, the most conspicuous example of situational irony is in when Bently Mallard was believed to be dead and Louise Mallard had come alive with life.