Irony In The Ransom Of Red Chief

“The Ransom of Red Chief”, a short story by O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter, describes two desperate con artists who undertake a scheme in order to earn enough money to acquire land. They decide to kidnap a boy, Johnny Dorset, son of an affluent father living in Summit. The boy ends up being a massive hassle to deal with and they quickly send a ransom letter to the still unknowing the parents. To their surprise, the parents offer them a counterproposal in which they pay Mr. Dorset to rid the annoying child of their hands. Due to their suffering from the boy’s wrath, they, without hesitation, agree to the parents’ terms. In “The Ransom of Red Chief”, William Sydney Porter uses irony and word choice to dramatically enhance

Firstly, Porter uses irony in this particular story to add a smudge of humor into the story and greatly amplify and introduce key literary elements, such as foreshadowing. For example, Sam describes the location in which they plan to kidnap the boy to Bill as “a town… as flat as a flannel-cake and called Summit, of course” (38). This quote shows verbal irony with the contrasting name and location of the settlement, adding a mild snicker in the reader’s mind. To a greater extent, this demonstrates significance since it allows the author to foreshadow many critical points of the story. The fact that the town name is contradictory and out of the norm slightly implicates further use of irony and unexpected events, such as how the town doesn't mind the disappearance of a child for at least a couple of days. O. Henry, having many haphazard twists and turns in his life, such as the early death of his wife, most likely applied his life into a story, to express how things can turn out a way in which it seems completely absurd or unusual. Furthermore, irony helps add to the story with a

For example, when they review the pros and cons for earning money, they claim that Summit’s strongest attempt of retaliation wouldn’t be “anything stronger than constables and, maybe, some lackadaisical bloodhounds…” (38). This quote seems to aid the reader in the understanding of the best resistance the miniscule settlement could sustain; however, it actually shows the narrator’s horrible logic. By using words such as constables and bloodhounds, we can assume that he is experienced and frequently evaded the law. He states how “philoprogenitiveness” is strong in rural communities and how the father of who they plan to kidnap is very respectable and wealthy. These claims made by the narrator easily contradict what he says about the police in Summit. Since the father is very affluent and supposedly loves his child very much, both Sam and Bill can expect a massive manhunt to find both the captors and the captive. The narrator also describes the bloodhounds as lackadaisical and lazy, when in reality, bloodhounds have been used for tracking people since the Middle Ages. Using this, we can infer that he is very uneducated and is just a simple common thief. Their personalities are expressed furthermore when the duo tries to kidnap the boy. Sam describes how the child, who was being abducted at the time, “put up a fight like a welterweight cinnamon bear” (40). This quote