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Irony In O. Henry's Short Story

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Recommended: The ransom of red chief

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”. People believed that this story was written at Pete’s Tavern on Irving Place in …show more content…

The two versions involve a young married couple and the way they buy the secret Christmas gifts for each other with a little money. Although the modern version changes some details, it still conveys what O. Henry wants to transmit. Through laughter, author’s compassion was expressed. In spite of some differences, two of them are classic examples of irony. Irony is a literary technique in which an expectation of what is supposed to happen differs enormously from the actual result. In gift of the magi, the two main characters sold their most valuable asset to earn money to buy something special for their lover. In their situation, they should not waste your money buying something that have no use; however, just because of love, they accept all. In the end, the special gifts that they carefully prepare are not what they receive, but something they can not expect: they know how much they love each other. It can be seen that the themes of original version still unchanged. O. Henry focuses on three themes: wealthy and poverty, generosity and the most important – love. Of course, Ann Dandron-Duke is loyal to these

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By using irony, readers can hear the wisdom in the older narrator but also get to know the narrator in the story – the younger version. Because irony is used, readers can tell when the ‘character’ narrator is oblivious to being used or discriminated against. Irony allows readers to see how naïve the narrator was when he was younger – something that he himself recognizes as he gets older.

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The perfect ending The numerous examples of satire and irony provided in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the reason I selected this as the topic for my essay. The examples I have included below all tie together to give the book an overall theme of Jealousy. For the duration of your whole life, everyone is jealous of at least one person in their life at one time for numerous reason that will vary person to person. Whether it's jealousy of appearance, money, experiences, education, jobs, friendship, excetera everyone will end up longing for something someone else has that you lack.

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Both of the authors used different types of irony during their stories.

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For the 16th and 17th centuries of early modern European history, many societies were consumed by a trepidation over alleged theories of witchcraft and sorcery in their communities. “Witch-hunts”, especially in Central Europe, resulted in the trial, torture, and execution of tens of thousands of victims, a large proportion of whom were women . In England alone, more than 90 percent of those convicted of witchcraft were women, and the few men who were accused were generally married to a woman who had already been deemed guilty of the offence . Although there are numerous ideas behind the explanation of this witch-craze, there are few which explain why it was almost exclusively women who were targeted. It is possible to say that neither before nor since these centuries have adult European women been the main focus for such a large scale barbarity.

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In the short story, “The Open Window”, author Saki (H.H. Munro) uses multiple types of irony to elaborate the sense of the mood to readers. Saki uses dramatic irony, verbal irony, and situational irony to show the differences between the characters’ mindsets and personalities. Using different types of irony in stories makes one able to better understand multiple viewpoints of the characters. Dramatic irony is when the reader comprehends what is going on in the story or knows something the characters do not. An example of dramatic irony is shown in context where Mrs. Sappleton waits for her family to come home.

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Family and friends are an important part of life. In the case of Mrs. Mallard she saw her husband as more of someone that holds power over her In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, the story Mrs. Mallard has to deal with her husband allegedly dying, just to figure out at the end of the story that nothing happened to him and he is still alive. The use of Irony is really what makes this story great. Irony enhances the total effect of Kate Chopin 's "The Story of an Hour" by characterizing the protagonist, supporting the exposition and timeline, and building tension leading to the twist ending.

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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

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In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” readers are dropped into a deep conflict. A man must tell a woman that her husband is dead. In the beginning there is a subtle hint at the ironic twist ending, but the story goes on cooly in spite of it. Readers start to feel connected to Mrs. Mallard and begins to pity her situation, all because of irony. The effect of irony in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” enhances the protagonist’s situation, it introduces the effect of the foreshadowing, and indirectly characterizes the protagonist.

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