Use Of Irony In The Ransom Of Red Chief

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" begins with the capture of the protagonist Peyton Farquhar, a plantation and slave owner. Bierce paints a vivid picture of the surroundings around Farquhar as he awaits to be hanged. It then flashes back to the days leading up to the hanging. Where Farquhar was deceived by a federal spy claiming to be a confederate soldier. In the end, we see Farquhar escape from reality as he is serving his sentence to finally his demise. Throughout the story we can tell by the way Ambrose Bierce uses military terminology that he had served in the military during the Civil War (Grenander) "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" carries the reader back to the American Civil War to experience the final days of Peyton Farquhar, and to reflect on the events and ultimate deception that brought him to his fate

Irony is a language style that writers use to let readers expect something, but eventually something else happens. After Judy leaves Dexter, he gets engaged to a girl named Irene Scheerer. Moreover he gets back to Judy at some point which "gave serious hurt to Irene Scheerer and her parents" (Fitzgerald 433). The reader could never imagine that Dexter would give Irene the hurt that he got from Judy because he tasted the pain, but he hurts her because "Judy is the picture of passion and beauty, and energy and loveliness," therefore he could leave everything just to have her (Gidmark 4644). At the beginning of the story: Fitzgerald asserts that Judy "[is] more beautiful than everybody else" and that she plays around with guys most of the time (433). Yet she ends up with a husband who "treats her like a devil" (Fitzgerald 435); she plays around no more, but "she stays at home with her kids" (435). This is ironic because the reader would never think that Judy, the gorgeous girl, "is beautiful but not happy" with her new life (Gidmark 4642). Irony is used in the story to make the reader excited and inpatient for the end, nevertheless surprisingly the story ends in a different way from what the reader is thinking. Additionally to similes and irony, the author uses symbolism as

Throughout history, irony has been used in a multitude of ways. It is not just a way to inject humor into a story, but a way to slip a message in without saying it flat out. By doing that, it allows the reader to take in the information, and possibly come to the conclusion that the author wanted them to. This way, though, it does not seem like something forced upon them. Authors who used this tactic were Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. They wrote these novels during the reconstruction period about the pre civil war era, and used them to get their opinions on the time period across. While some may say that Twain and Douglass used irony for many purposes , they mainly used it to expose the downfalls of society by critiquing hypocrisy, conformity, and the cruelty of slavery.

Irony is used to throw the reader off track and make the story more alluring. In “The Masque of Red Death,” Prince Prospero’s castle walls “had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within,”(57). When all entrances are sealed most would think that nothing could get in. That's what Prince Prospero thought, however the Red Death still could get in. Prince Prospero’s mind was distorted because of fear. His big fear of dying by the Red Death clouded his rational thought, so much that he excluded ever commoner and left them to die. As a result of him isolating himself from the disease, it came and found him. Prince Prospero didn’t realize that death is inevitable no matter what. Irony is the opposite of what you would expect and it can show how distorted the brain can get when reaction to fear. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” “His room was a black as pitch,” says the narrator, “with the thick darkness (for the shutters were closed and fastened, through fear of robbers,)”(75). The irony here is that the old man puts up the shutters in fear of being robbed or killed by people coming in, however, he didn't expect the threat to come from the inside. Fear led not only the old man to shut himself in, but also for the narrator to kill the old man

My Brother Sam is Dead is a novel that focuses on one family’s struggle during the Revolutionary War. It is written by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier. The book focuses on the Meeker family, a family of four, during the time of the American Revolution. Mr. Meeker is strongly opposed to the war because he had fought in one before and saw the horrors that it brought. Sam Meeker, the eldest son, is a patriot. He is a strong-willed boy who wants to fight for his country. Tim Meeker, the younger son, starts out conflicted. He is too young to fight in the army, and he does not want to choose either side. He feels that choosing a side would be choosing either his father or his brother and he didn't want to do that. This family lived in Redding, Connecticut, which was a town made up of mostly Tories.

Every obstacle in life makes you stronger even if at the time you think you’re going through hell and don’t know how you’re going to get out. In the novel Lord Of The Flies by William Golding the author uses many ways in each different situation to develop the theme of the novel. Every story has situations that are shocking to the reader, and this book was great at letting the reader know what’s going on before the character.

In the story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, irony plays a big part in establishing the characters and it emphasizes how different General Zaroff and Rainsford are. It also shows how the context may change throughout the story in the sense that the hunters become the hunted and the enemies thrive with each other. It changes Rainsford perception on the animals he has hunted for sport when he quickly becomes the hunted. Overall, the author, Richard Connell uses irony very well to show emphasize different points in the story. One clear example of how the author uses irony in his work is through the conversation between sailor, Whitney and game hunter, Rainford. ¨´You´re a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels.´¨

“‘Nothing like it used to be, lady,’ he said. ‘The world is almost rotten’” (O’Connor 1). This quote from the story The Life You Save May Be Your Own occurs when Mr. Shiftlet first comes to town and introduced himself to the old woman and her daughter. O’Connor wants the reader to understand that its very easy to be a hypocrite. Mr. Shiftlet claims that the world is rotten, which may be true however, he is contributing to that factor. Authors use the irony in characters to bring out themes into the story. Flannery O’Connor develops the themes, often in the form of a question, of each story based on the irony of characters so the reader can see they irony of their own lives.

In the short story “Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry, it used differences in the point of views of the characters to create dramatic irony by the characters Sam and Bill believing that the father will pay to get the son back, yet we can tell from the child 's actions that the father won’t pay that amount, so the father ends up getting paid to get the son back, which was humorous to us but not to the actual characters. An example from the text to support my claim is from page 25,” That boy had Bill terrorized from the start.” This shows that even though Bill was the kidnapper the kid was torturing him. This explains how from the beginning this child was too horrible for anyone to want to handle. We also know that dad, who spent most time with

Authors use irony, conflict and characterization in short stories to catch the attention of readers. Situational irony is used to create suspense in the stories. Conflict is used to create an active plot that involves person vs. person and person vs. self conflict. In short stories, characterization is used by dialog and direct characterization to create character personalities. “The Most Dangerous Game”, “Scarlet Ibis” and “Gift of the Magi” all use irony, conflict and characterization to engage the readers.

The irony in both the short stories The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe and The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry is used to create contrast between the route the reader thinks the story will go down, or the route that seems more obvious to the reader, and the reality presented, while adding touches of humor and foreshadowing. The irony in The Cask of Amontillado adds a dark layer of humor that tells the reader about how ego can get in the way of common sense, and foreshadows to the gruesome end. Montresor is practically a master at using reverse psychology, an example of verbal irony, to manipulate others into doing what he wants. The only time Montresor ever has to use physical force on Fortunato is at the very end, when he is chaining him up. Fortunato begs to stay in the

Irony is very effective in this book. One way irony is effective in this book shows the characters thoughts, feelings, and things the characters say but, mean something totally different from what the characters are actually say. Another way irony is effective in this book is because it makes us stop and think about what had been said. Irony is just one thing that helps make up this book.

Suspense is an integral part of storytelling. Without suspense, certain stories would not create their intended effect. Edgar Allen Poe wrote many books and poems, which were all under a gothic theme. His writings were very dark and mysterious, and they all contained suspense. Poe’s novel “The Tell-Tale Heart” and his poem “The Raven” contain suspense, which is created through point-of-view, irony, and diction.

The world has changed much in one hundred years: women are standing up for themselves, children are changing the world, but still the works of three authors stand strong as the writers of some of the most well-known books in history.

Change can be good, both for a spunky young runner and a couple of bedraggled kidnappers. These characters feature vividly in Toni Cade Bambara’s “Raymond’s Run” and O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Redchief”. The two short stories share a common author’s purpose, as well as similar and powerful themes. However, the two writers utilize disparate techniques to convey these narrative elements.