There are some parts in the maze runner that use irony to build tension. For instance when Minho and Alby go in to the maze to examine a dead Griever, they are willing to bring it back to the glade without any kind of problems. Instead of what was planned to happen the Griever is actually alive and then it injures Alby. This made the journey for them to come back to the glade very hard. This ends up being an opposite out come to what they had expected. This kind of situation is an irony. However Thomas decides to try and help Alby and Minho when they are trapped in the maze. Thomas though he and Minho could protect Alby form the Grievers. But Minho just runs away and Thomas is left alone to save Alby. This is demonstrated as situational irony. This proves that irony is active in many parts of the maze
Irony is used a great deal in this novel. Irony is the expression of one’s meaning by
A great example of verbal irony is when General Zaroff states that the island is “a most-restful spot”(60). Although the General tells the truth about it being a restful place, what he really meant was that sailors will rest there forever. Another presence of irony is in the beginning of the story. Rainsford was the hunter and did not care for the feelings of the animals he hunted. He ended up being the “hunted” and finally understood how they felt. He had a change in opinion for the animals. One more example from the text is when Zaroff states that Ivan is “a bit of a savage”(57). This shows that Zaroff thinks of himself not a savage even though he is the one slaughtering
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.
You may have to think a little for the first one. When Gooner, the narrator, is trying to persuade Harris to pee on the fence, he knows exactly what is going to happen to Harris, because he says he wanted revenge. Meanwhile, Harris had no idea what was definitely going to happen to him, or he would have rejected the offer immediately. But we knew what was going to happen to Harris, because Gooner told us. Another instance of Dramatic Irony is when Gooner met a girl and got nervous. He couldn’t talk, and Harris irreverently took advantage of this quickly. He said, “You remember the Severson kid? How he kept leaning left and ate his snot all the time?” Harris pointed at me with his chin. “It’s the same with him.” This is a great example of Dramatic Irony because the girl thinks there is something wrong with Gooner, but we, the audience, know that he is a regular person, he’s just
“The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry contains several marvelous examples of irony. First of all, the story begins in a tranquil village called Summit which was handpicked by two kidnappers, Bill and Sam, who decided to kidnap a little boy in Summit called Red Chief because they presumed that Red Chief’s father, Ebenezer Dorset, would give them a lot of money, but, ever since the beginning, Bill and Sam who assume the roles of Old Hank and Snake-eye, respectively, in Red Chief’s game notice something quite peculiar about this boy. This boy is acting like he is having the time of his life, and he has so much energy that he completely terrorizes Bill. One day, when Sam asks Red Chief if he wants to go home, Red Chief answers with a childish,
Both situational and verbal irony are used throughout the story to develop a humorous tone. Situational irony is used in many instances in the story to create humor. One of the first instances of situational irony is when the “would be” kidnappers first carry little “Red Chief” off to their lair. The reader
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." This is an example of irony because instead of them getting the money they had to pay Mr. Dorset the to get the kid off their hands. After Twenty Years is a story where two friends go to a restaurant after twenty years to catch up on what they have
Just like in comedy, irony plays a prevalent role in literature; in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, irony is not only used several times to poke fun at character and the narrator, but also gives them more life and a greater depth. In its multiple uses it is especially noticeable in The Prologue, The Pardoner's Tale, and The Wife of Bath. In the stories irony helped to show the reader the relevance of the story, but also the importance of its message.
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 plays Indian chief. Johnny takes the game to heart and truly believes himself to be an Indian chief. After about two days, Bill
For instance, after the kidnappers kidnapped Johnny, but it was the kidnappers were the ones that were afraid. That is an example of humorous irony because the person that is being kidnapped is usually the one that is scared. That is because they are being held hostage, but Bill Driscoll said “ We’ve got the money. One more night of this kid will send me to a bed in bedlam”(53). Being afraid is when you are worried about your life, and health, because you think that something is going to happen to you. Which is what Bill is feeling, because whenever he is with Johnny he is the one the gets badly hurt, which is funny because two grown men are afraid of one little boy. Another example of humorous situational irony is Johnny’s parents asking for a ransom to return their child. This is a case in point of a humorous situational irony because it is an unexpected twist to the story. It is an unexpected twist because the parents are usually the ones that have to pay the ransom to the kidnappers because the parents are too afraid of something happening to their child. Johnny’s father’s letter said : You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred fifty dollars on cash and I agree to take him off your hands”(52). That is amusing because the dad isn’t worried because he knows that they can’t do anything to Johnny, and because he knows this he wants to make a profit from it. O Henry showed humorous situational irony in his short story “ The Ransom of
O.Henry is a mastermind behind his use of irony as he was using his irony to entertain the reader throughout the story. He was also using humor, and mainly using Johnny, and his actions to entertain and make the reader laugh. O.Henry was also using the perfect combination of words to paint a picture in the reader's head which definitely helped me understand the plot line much better. O.Henry's funny writing style definitely had showed itself in many great ways in his short story The Ransom of Red
We had five puppies. What makes your nose so red, Hank? My father has lots of money. Are the stars hot? I whipped Ed Walker twice, Saturday. I don’t like girls. You dassent catch toads unless with a string. Do oxen make any noise? Why are oranges round? Have you got beds to sleep on in this cave? Amos Murray has six toes. A parrot can talk, but a monkey or a fish can’t. How many does it take to make twelve?’” (Henry 2)This helps develop a humorous tone because the ways that the child acts around the kidnappers is the opposite of what the reader expects. 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 worried due to the child’s sudden disappearance and be angry and devastated at the same time. Again, the father does not react as expected, instead he writes a note to the kidnappers to pay him the money so that they could give the child back. “Two Desperate Men. Gentlemen: I received your letter to-day by post, in regard to the ransom you ask for the return of my son. I think you are a little high in your demands, and I hereby make you a counter-proposition, which I am inclined to believe you will accept. You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and I agree to take him off your
At some point in life, everyone sets out to do something with a distinct intention. Sometimes the things we set out to do can differ vastly, but can end up the exact opposite of what we thought, being ironic. The same idea of situational irony can correlate with the two short stories, “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. They both use different craft moves and have different themes, but leads to irony. “The Ransom of Red Chief” is a short story about two grown men who kidnap a young boy in hope for a large ransom from his rich father, but end up paying the father instead from excitement of discarding the boy. “The Story of an Hour” is a short story about a woman who receives false news that her husband is dead, and while suffering through different emotions, she dies of a heart disease only for her husband to come home unharmed minutes later. O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief”
O. Henry has a very unique writing style and uses situational irony and plot twists. The Ransom of Red Chief, After 20 Years, and The Gift of the Magi are a few stories in which he puts his creative thinking and writing skills to work and includes plot twists and situational irony. The Ransom of Red Chief is a story about 2 men who hold a boy for random. ] The author states on page 1, "...when I should have been abstracting the fifteen hundred dollars from the box under the tree...Bill was counting out two hundred and fifty dollars into Dorset 's hand." Situational irony is seen when the father of the kidnapped child asks for money to take the boy back instead of him paying the kidnappers to bring back the boy. This is considered situational irony because readers would