The Ransom Of Red Chief Theme Essay

“The Ransom of Red Chief” vs. “The Story of an Hour” At some point in life, everyone sets out to do something with a distinct intention. Sometimes the things we set out to do can differ vastly, but can end up the exact opposite of what we thought, being ironic. The same idea of situational irony can correlate with the two short stories, “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. They both use different craft moves and have different themes, but leads to irony. “The Ransom of Red Chief” is a short story about two grown men who kidnap a young boy in hope for a large ransom from his rich father, but end up paying the father instead from excitement of discarding the boy. “The Story of an Hour” is a short story about a woman who receives false news that her husband is dead, and while suffering through different emotions, she dies of a heart disease only for her husband to come home unharmed minutes later. O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief”

For example, in “The Ransom of Red Chief,” Bill and Sam want to receive a large ransom from Mr. Dorset for the return of his son, but ends up having to pay him money instead. “Just at the moment when I should have been abstracting the fifteen hundred dollars from the box under the tree, according to the original position, Bill was counting out two hundred and fifty dollars into Dorset’s hands” (Henry 25). Similarly, in “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard dies of heart disease soon after being told her husband died in a train wreck, only for her husband to walk in the house a few minutes later without a scratch. “Someone was opening the front door with a latch key. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel stained… He had been far from the scene of the accident” (Chopin 3). In both texts, one thing is anticipated, but the opposing thing