Red Chief

The exaggeration that O'Brien expresses in his story, also known as hyperbole, gives the reader a feeling of speaking with a man that just experienced the war of his life an hour before you two are speaking. The emotion is

Marty Robbins, a traditional and even glorified country singer, sang a song that focuses on Justice. To be more precise, to make the statement which pertains to Justice, “That it always come in due time.” In this song, which is quite like a sung story, more so than other songs, we learn about a Ranger and an Outlaw, and their duel in the Old West. We are initially informed of the arrival of the Ranger; however, we are then told of the sins of the Outlaw. “But the outlaw didn't worry men that tried before were dead - Twenty men had tried to take him twenty men had made a slip (Robbins)” Using this reference, one is able to determine that the outlaw, Texas Red is quite notoriously heinous. This progresses our “plot” by showing the nature of the antagonist.

“His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole...,” writes O’Brien as he studies the deceased enemy (118). Throughout the novel, the author shows consistency with repeating stories and lines in a way to present a greater image. He reminds the reader of details the elaborate his larger view. When he writes of the man he killed, he wants the reader to imagine themselves in his shoes, as he imagined himself in the enemies’. As he carefully studies the dead man, he imagines how the boy found himself in the war. By relating American society to the boy’s village of My Khe, he bridges similarities connecting the two by a culture that promotes defending one’s land and ways of life. By saying, “he would have been taught that to defend the land was a man’s highest duty and highest privilege,” he shows there is minimal difference between how most Americans view the military and the duty of the villagers in My Khe (119). Although he had not known the exact history of the boy, he attempted to illustrate in his own mind what his life may have been like prior to the invasion. The inability for O’Brien to walk away from the body as Kiowa continued to pry him away says he was troubled by the similarities. Despite Kiowa saying it could have been him lying lifeless on

The Ransom of Red Chief Trial court case for our class was a success. Overall the verdict was guilty. I was one of the jury in this case. The prosecutors and the defense team both gave great evidence. Prosecutor team told us how Bill and Sam persuaded red Chief to go with by using candy, also they presented the ransom note that was written by the two. There was also an eye witness when the kidnapping went down.

William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, used irony to tell his story of a group of young British boys stranded on a deserted island. The readers can clearly spot the irony in the dialogue and Ralph, one of the main character, is also aware of the irony in his situation. The irony in the novel forces the readers to step aside and think about the hidden meanings the author is trying to express.

To begin with, O'Brien writes this short story in a very serious tone. There is no joking with him, unless in dialogue. For instance, O'Brien demonstrates this serious tone when he writes "After the chopper took... They burned everything" (440). This tone then helps

At the same time, O’Brien struggles with destructiveness of the conflicting images of violence and peace in death through the juxtaposition of the imagery of the dead man. While “his one eye was shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole.” The dead man has one shut eye that resembles a peaceful sleep, while the other side is obliterated by the grenade into a star-shaped hole. The image of the star-shaped hole in the dead soldier’s eye represents the hopes that he once had when he was alive: “He hoped the Americans would go away. Soon, he hoped. He kept hoping and hoping, always” (119). Furthermore, “his right cheek was smooth and hairless,” an image of untouched innocence that contrasts with his left cheek, which was “peeled back in three ragged strips,” destroyed by the violence O’Brien inflicts upon it. The juxtaposition of the butterfly that settles on his chin and the fatal wound on his neck, “open to the spinal cord…blood…thick and shiny” illustrate the complexity and ambiguity of the unnaturalness of war, depicted by the image of the dead man’s wrung neck, contrasted with the ironic peace and naturalism of death in the image of the fragile butterfly. These select images are also those that O’Brien chooses to fixate upon and develop throughout the chapter as he struggles to comprehend the moral implications of his actions. The innocence of the “slim, dead, almost dainty young man” is further reinforced when O’Brien describes his wrists as “wrists of a

O'Brien's writing style is so vivid, the reader frequently finds himself accepting the events and details of this novel as absolute fact. To contrast truth and fiction, the author inserts reminders that the stories are not fact, but are mere representations of human emotion incommunicable as fact.

During this work, O’Brien keeps a casual tone. It sometimes gets more formal and serious, but for the most part, it’s friendly and almost playful. When he is describing the conversations he had with his friends, he looks back on them with happiness. Consequently, when he is describing the death of one of his friends, his tone gets more somber and less playful. For example, the entire chapter of “Stockings” is devoted to describing the soldier Henry Dobbins and an interesting knack of his. “Even now, twenty years later, I can see him wrapping his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck before heading out on an ambush.” This cute, two page chapter provides a bit of relief after the chapter about Mary Anne Belle. It has light connotations and is a generally funny short story. Later in the book, however, he gets more serious when talking about the death of his dear friend Kiowa. He

In the story titled “The Man I Killed” O’Brien reflects on the events leading to and following his killing of a Vietnamese soldier via a grenade. He goes on to tell the reactions of his platoon mates as well as his own. The explosion of the grenade left the Vietnamese soldier’s face burned and unrecognizable. This symbolizes the life of so many of the thousands of dead Vietnamese soldiers that too were killed and consequently buried. These dead soldiers went unidentified and failed to bring their respective families closure. O’Brien struggles to cope with

The concept of the innocence of children contains the conventional association of Satire/Irony. According to literature, children are perceived to be innocent until exposed to the harsh realities of the world, where their maturity develops and the loss of innocence is achieved. The children in this story, however, appear as regular children in the beginning, with the normal intentions of playtime and fun. Jackson even describes Bobby Martin, a child of the village, stuffing his pocket full of stones with other boys following his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest ones (875).

Throughout “Ransom of the Red Chief”, situational irony is a reoccurring theme. After first deciding to kidnap a boy in the town of Summit, Alabama, Bill and Sam settle on the only child of wealthy Mr. Dorset. After grabbing the boy, the kidnappers soon find out that Johnny is the most difficult hostage ever to be handled. After many days suffering through the make-believe games Johnny devises, Sam finally sends a ransom demand to the father. Knowing his son’s behavior well, the father counters the offer with a proposal of his own. In his proposal, Mr. Dorset writes, “You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and I agree to take him off your hands” (Henry 18). These words are ironic because the author has flipped expectations with the kidnappers paying to get rid of their hostage. This example of situational irony helps to enhance the story as it further illustrates the desperation of the two kidnappers to rid themselves of Johnny, even if it means paying money out of their own pocket.

Onomatopoeia’s are used in this story a lot to coincide with helping the 1st person point of view. “Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this,”. “Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in!”. Hyperboles are extravagant exaggerations of something. “It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed”. This story is basically a big exaggeration of madness. The narrator helps us by using all these big exaggerations to understand how he has lost his mind and is going to commit murder.

In the story "ransom of Red Chief" the irony creates humor in the story. For example, the author states "What's $250 after all?" referring to them paying too get rid of Red Chief. I find this ironic and funny, because it is quite strange to see kidnappers paying to get rid of someone they kidnapped.

Verbal irony is used throughout the story as well and relates to the theme of hypocrisy. Throughout the story, many things are said that might confuse you or not make sense which is verbal irony. One of the characters, Old Man Warner said, “ Next thing you know they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves”(Jackson 4). This is ironic because he is making it seem that cave men and their lifestyles are modern which in reality they are not. Another example is told by Mrs. Delacroix, “ You’re in time, though. They’re still talking away up there”. Here she is talking to Tessi Hutchinson acting like their friends and everything is fine, but at the end of the story when Tessi is the one being stoned, Mrs. Delacroix picks up the biggest rock to throw.