Humor of a Common Fear

In O. Henry's story, “The Ransom of the Red Chief,” eight distinct examples of irony are present throughout the entire selection. O. Henry writes with both situational and verbal irony, which results in a comedic account of a rowdy boy's kidnapping. Situational irony involves an event in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended. Verbal irony is when the intended meaning of a statement differs from the meaning that the words appear to express. There are three examples of verbal irony and five examples of situational irony in “The Ransom of the Red Chief.”

Fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat(Websters Dictionary).Fear is something that our lives have adapted to rarely use as our ancient predecessors have.In our day and age the concept of fear comes through the stress of work. We humans no longer fear a cold nor do we fear storms as our houses protect us and on average our life spans are longer as old in the Paleolithic was 33 while currently it is 71.5(Wikipedia Life Expectancy). Why then is our fear so extensive that it can make us freeze up? “The answer is our legacy of ancient fears, the result of having spent millions of years running from predators. Our fear response is more influenced by the ancient species we struggled to escape than any modern challenges.”(The evolutionary legacy of having been prey.By Rob Dunn) This is one of the statements about human life. If this is so how do we develop from terror to finding fear fun?

In “Ransom of Red Chief” O.Henry uses situational irony to create humor in his short story. It is very fun to see the things that happen throughout the story because the reader does not expect those things to happen. As a result of O.Henry using situational irony, it develops the theme crime doesn’t pay. In order for the reader to understand the theme they need to understand situational irony and how it affects the story.

Irony is described by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “the incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result”. “Ransom of the Red Chief”, as short story written by O. Henry, is full of all types of irony. In this short story a boy, Johnny Dorset, is taken by two kidnappers, Sam and Bill. Ironically, by the end of the story it is the kidnappers who pay ransom to the father. In “Ransom of the Red Chief”, there are many examples of irony which help to enhance the story. Throughout this tale, there are multiple examples of situational, dramatic, and verbal irony.

“Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understanding” writes Agnes Repplier, a famous essayist, about her feelings about humor and irony. In addition, irony happens in everyday life, even though it may not be evident. Besides the irony that happens in everyday life, it can also be presented in short stories such as: Sherman Alexie’s “Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ At Woodstock,” Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” and Gabriel Garcia MArquez’s “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children.” Although all three stories have different characters and conflicts, there are numerous situations of irony that are

Americans are addicted to many things. For instance, the populace is addicted to such things as violent spectacle and imagery. Another example is sensationalism. But one of the paradoxical ones is the addiction to fear. The populace is under constant fear of something bad happening or being projected to happen soon. These are crime rates, financial collapse, terrorist attacks, epidemics of diseases, and many more. But it is a paradox that Americans fear the wrong things. As Barry Glassner states in his book Culture of Fear, "one of the paradoxes of a culture of ear is that serious problems remain widely ignored even though they give rise to precisely the dangers that the populace most abhors" (p. xxvi). The problem is that Americans not only fear the wrong things but the true fearful and dangerous things are ignored although these dangers are the ones they truly abhor.

He explores such questions as: Why do we have so many fears these days? Are we living in exceptionally dangerous times? What he uncovers is that it is our perception of danger than has increased, not our actual level of risk. There are people and organizations in America that actually profit from these fears and so they create them, but there are prices we pay for social panics, including money that is wasted on unnecessary programs and products as well as time and energy spent worrying about these

In “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O.Henry, there is a significant amount of situational irony to produce humor. For instance the kidnapping victim does not want to go home. When Sam asks the kid if he wants to go home, the kid replies “‘ I don’t have any fun at home. I hate to go to school. I like to camp out. You won’t send me back home again,snake-eye, will you?”’(41) Usually when a

Humor can be found in the most unexpected places throughout literature. Even in writing that is not intended to be comedic, humor can be used to strengthen its message. For example, in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor’s use of humor and irony helps the readers better understand the theme, why the character’s actions led to their deaths, by bringing attention to these consequences.

Irony can be defined as a double significance which arises from the contrast in values associated with two different point of view (Leech and Short, Style in fiction; 223). The most usual kind is that which involves a contrast between a point of view stated or implied in some part of the fiction, and the assumed point of view of the author, and hence of the reader. In the Richard Connell’s short story entitled “The Cage Man” it is Horace Nimms, the main character of the story, who is involved in contrast social value; between Horace Nimms point of view and my point of view. What makes this short story unique is that when in another Connell’s short

In the short story “The Ransom of Red Chief,” by O. henry makes situational irony with a funny humor. For instance, when Bill and Sam kidnap John, the little boy, he is over excited instead of being scared. When Sam asks if

“The Ransom Red Chief,” by O. Henry uses situational irony to create the effect of humor in this short story. For instance,

In “The Ransom of Red Chief”, by O.Henry, situational irony is used to create a sense of comedy in the story. O.Henry first uses situational irony throughout the story. Typically, kids who get kidnapped in general are terrified and don’t really enjoy it, yet, Johnny(also known as red chief) enjoys the fact of being kidnapped. O. Henry proves this when Sam, the kidnapper, says to Johnny, “‘I’ll take you straight home. Now. are you going to be good or not” (45)? Usually, kidnappers threaten the kids they have napped by telling them they are not going home. Another example of situational irony is when the kidnappers themselves pay a ransom for the family to take Johnny back instead of it being the other way around. Once it has been about two days

“The boy had two large feathers stuck in his hair” (1) The Ransom of Red Chief is about a little boy that gets kidnapped and plays a game with his kidnappers which annoys them. Then, they try to get his father to pay a ransom but it is the kidnappers who end up paying a ransom and run off to get away from the troublesome boy. This short story The Ransom of Red Chief is a low level comedy that uses comical characters and comical situations to convey the idea that people should think before they act. This short story by O. Henry is a low level comedy, because it’s entertaining and has physical mishaps.

Irony is a technique that is used, through a character or plot development, to convey an intention or attitude opposite to what is literally stated. In essence, irony is humour based on opposites and contradiction. It is supposed to make the reader laugh due to the mismatched characteristics of specific situations. In 'About a Boy' Hornby explores significant issues through the use of this type of humour. Techniques such as Ironic and ridiculous situations, coupled with vivid imagery encourage the audience to laugh while simultaneously being challenged to think about serious issues such as mental health, bullying and relationships. This, in turn, elicits an emotional response within the reader. An example of irony in ‘About a Boy’ is the Dead duck scene, where the humour of Marcus killing a