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Irony In O. Henry's The Ransom Of Red Chief

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Only 4% of kidnappings involve demanding a ransom (https://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/nismart/03/ns4.html). The Ransom of Red Chief, by O. Henry follows one of these more uncommon kidnappings. In the story two poor men kidnap a boy and hold him in a cave to ransom him. As the story moves on the boy causes more and more trouble, and there are several twists and turns, all highlighted by O. Henry's irony. O. Henry uses all three types of irony to drive the story. In the introduction of the story, O. Henry starts off with saying that they were in Alabama with Bill Driscoll, and they thought of an idea to kidnap someone. It also mentions that Bill was in a temporary mental aspiration. It is here when O. Henry uses irony, saying “ as flat as a flannel-cake, and called Summit, of course.” In this early example O. Henry uses verbal irony. Although this does not drive the plot of the story as much as the other example, it helps the reader imagine what it would be like to be in small town of summit. …show more content…

They take him to a cave, with a plan to be nice to him. Bill and the child play a game where the kid plays an indian, awarding him the nickname of Red Chief. On the second Sam goes outside to see if anyone was looking for the child, were O. Henry writes “But what I saw was a peaceful landscape dotted with one man ploughing with a dun mule. Nobody was dragging the creek; no couriers dashed hither and yon, bringing tidings of no news to the distracted parents. ” This is a great example of situation irony that really makes the story into what it is now. While he expected to see people worried about the lost boy, nobody seems to care. If O. Henry were to choose to have police looking for the boy, this short story could turn into a tale of two men running from the law, as opposed to what it is

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In “The Ransom of Red Chief,” both situational and verbal irony is used many times through the story to create a humorous tone. Verbal irony is used in “The Ransom of Red Chief” when Bill says to Sam “I was rode, the ninety miles to the stockade, not barring an inch. Then, when the settlers was rescued, I was given oats. Sand ain’t a palatable substitute. ”(The Ransom of Red Cheif pg. 77) Bill is telling Sam how awful Red chief is to him and creates a humorous tone by using verbal irony.

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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.

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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.

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Without the use of irony, the story wouldn't be as suspenseful and there would be no build up to the

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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.

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The plan was to keep the boy for ransom and have the family pay for his return,

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O’Connor employs verbal, dramatic, and situational irony to emphasize the theme of what constitutes true goodness. Verbal irony is peppered throughout the dialogue, which is mainly carried by the protagonist. Afraid to die, the nameless Grandmother implores the antagonist to save her life by declaring the opposite of what she believes, namely that

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The literary analysis irony is used in The Book Thief many times throughout the book. The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel, a young girl who is taken to a new home because her mother can't afford to take care of her. This story is told by Death, who becomes an important part in the book. The Book Thief is set in Nazi, Germany, at the start of World War ll.

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Irony is the most powerful literary device used in the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. First, a good example of irony in the story is “They were burdened with sashweights sand bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in.” (P,2 Line, 11-13) This quote is Ironic as it tells how this system was designed to hide beauty, yet beauty was still shown by the amount of restraints on the person. Second, another good example of irony is, “The spectacles were intended to make him not only half-blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.

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For example, when the day 's described as “clear and sunny” it 's ironic because it ends with the “brutal death” of a person. The way Jackson described the day made us think it was going to be enjoyable but it showed us otherwise. Another example would be Mr. Summers’s name. His persona leads us to believe that he 's the kind man in the story

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Situational irony is a noun meaning “an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does” (Dictionary.com). Many events that contain situational irony are present in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This book is a story narrated by Death about a girl named Liesel and her experiences during World War II. She is givin up by her mother to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann and she eventually has a wonderful life in her new home. She loves to spend time with her best friend Rudy Steiner and she even becomes friends with the Jewish man hiding in her basement, Max.

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In his short stories, O. Henry shows many examples of irony/plot twists. Ransom of the Red Chief is a story about two men who decide to kidnap a boy. However, he treats the men as if they were toys, and drives the men crazy causing them to give the boy back. "I found Bill backed up against the side of it, breathing hard, and the boy threatening to smash him with a rock

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Regret: as a verb, it means to feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over something that has happened or been done, especially a loss or missed opportunity. As a noun, it means almost the same thing; a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done. This is a common theme in O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief”. It tells the tale of two con men, Bill and Sam, who regret kidnapping a young boy, nicknamed ‘Red Chief’, after he proves to be wild and uncontrollable. The film adaptation starts off with the same basis, but Bill and Sam never really experience the feeling of regret, and the ending is completely different.

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Irony is the contrast between how things are and how things should be. This literary technique is used in The Pardoner's Tale to show how corrupt the Pardoner is. The Pardoner tells a story with the intention of teaching the company that greed is the root of all evil, yet he tries to swindle them and get contributions even after he admits they are fake. This is ironic because he should be practicing what he preaches, but he does the exact opposite. The irony surrounding the Pardoner becomes evident when his motives are explained in the beginning of the prologue.

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For example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator tries to prove to the reader that he is sane. “How, then, am I mad?” Later on in the story, he tells the reader “I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.” This is verbal irony since right after he said that he is sane, he confesses to the reader that he killed the old man. After the narrator asked how he was mad, suspense kept building, making the reader question if he was really sane and going to kill the man, until he actually killed the man.

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