Situational Irony In 'The Ransom Of Redchief'

Plot Twist

James Gray stated that “Melodrama is one of the most stunning art forms. These are stories where the emotions are big, and the situations are big, and the artists believe in the situation dramatically. There's no irony or distance.” Situational irony can affect what the reader emotion the reader is feeling . Authors skillfully use situational irony to surprise the reader, by adding a plot twist which is an unexpected event that happens in the story. For example O Henry uses situational irony in his short story “ The Ransom of Redchief” to give the story a humorous feeling to the story and readers. While Guy de Maupassant expressed a feeling of sympathy in his short story “The Necklace”. By inspecting the both of the stories, it

For instance, after the kidnappers kidnapped Johnny, but it was the kidnappers were the ones that were afraid. That is an example of humorous irony because the person that is being kidnapped is usually the one that is scared. That is because they are being held hostage, but Bill Driscoll said “ We’ve got the money. One more night of this kid will send me to a bed in bedlam”(53). Being afraid is when you are worried about your life, and health, because you think that something is going to happen to you. Which is what Bill is feeling, because whenever he is with Johnny he is the one the gets badly hurt, which is funny because two grown men are afraid of one little boy. Another example of humorous situational irony is Johnny’s parents asking for a ransom to return their child. This is a case in point of a humorous situational irony because it is an unexpected twist to the story. It is an unexpected twist because the parents are usually the ones that have to pay the ransom to the kidnappers because the parents are too afraid of something happening to their child. Johnny’s father’s letter said : You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred fifty dollars on cash and I agree to take him off your hands”(52). That is amusing because the dad isn’t worried because he knows that they can’t do anything to Johnny, and because he knows this he wants to make a profit from it. O Henry showed humorous situational irony in his short story “ The Ransom of