Situational Irony In O Henry's The Pearl

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

John Steinbeck has an interesting writing style and is able to convey his thoughts through his book The Pearl. When an author comments on a social event it is called social commentary. The Pearl is about a man named Kino who finds an expensive pearl that brings troubles for him. For example Steinbeck had used social commentary when, Kino started imagining what he would own after he sold the pearl, he kept going on and on, even when it started getting ridiculous. "For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want more." page 25. Social commentary is used by Steinbeck when he says that people are never content with what they have. Another time when the author had used this style of writing was when Kino had realized how rich he was and how the neighbors had begun to worry for him. "All of the neighbors hoped that the sudden wealth would not turn his head, would not make a rich man of him." page 43. Since the sudden wealth can make people selfish or greedy, Steinbeck comments on this through the life of his neighbors. Using his thoughtful, interesting style John Steinbeck is able to convey messages about the world 's complex problems through his book, The