Short Story Irony

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.

In the “Story of an Hour” we observe many instances in which irony takes place.

Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.

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.

In the short stories “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, irony is the main element used. Like many authors, these authors both use irony to their advantage. One story is about a hunter being hunted, an ironic twist, for a reason yet not stated. And the other is about a murder being committed using reverse psychology which takes place in a family catacomb with a fondness for wine ironically enabling the crime.

The first indication of dramatic irony is in “Masque of the Red Death” when the black room with the blood red windows is described. This description creates a bad feeling about the room and the reader senses something bad will happen in that room. This idea is proven later when the Prince dies in that room. Another example of dramatic irony is demonstrated in “Terrible Things” when Bunting writes “‘We have come for any creature that is white,” the Terrible Things thundered. “There are no white creatures here but us”’(Bunting, Three). This quotation illustrates dramatic irony because the rabbits do not understand that the Terrible Things are there for them, but the reader has this realization. This alarms the readers and causes one to dread what will happen to the rabbits. One more example of how dramatic irony builds suspense in stories is in “The Lottery” when Tessie says “‘I think we ought to start over” Mrs. Hutchinson said… I tell you it wasn't fair… you didn't give him enough time. Everybody saw that’” (Jackson, Four). This quotation is a good example of dramatic irony because when Tessie started causing a scene the reader begins to suspect that she will be the one who is chosen. This is significant because her pleading adds to the audience's fear of not knowing what will happen to the person who is

In dramatic Irony, occurs when the readers are aware about what is going to happen, but the characters do not have any clue about what is going on. In “The Black Cat”, the story begins with the main character sentenced to death, but with one story to tell. The Irony here is that he was not aware about how his life was going to change. In the beginning he is describing how happy was his childhood and how much he loved his pets. In the second paragraph of the story the main character describes his personality as a child in the first sentence “From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions” (3). He was a lovely child with an uncertain future. Another irony finds it on the story is how he describes the fidelity and love that the man can own “There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man” (3-4). When the story is progressing he is transforming to a violent man without any act of compassion towards his faithful pet, which actually represented faithfulness. He is represented himself as a child with a lovely personality, but he is not aware that the lovely child was going to transform in an alcoholic man with a violent personality willing to kill mercilessly.

Not many grown up can makes sense of irony, what can high schools students understand? The authors has tried to teach this to teenagers no matter how good he was or the experience he had he was not able to convince

The relationship between the eagle and the gull to "a pair of ice dancers" represents a battle between life and death. Both the eagle and the gull are trying to survive against each other. When the gull “swerves across / the open water” (5) and the eagle "is always behind it" (8), this shows a synchronization between the two animals as they are trying to battle between who lives and who dies. This also shows the equal desires of both animals as the eagle is trying to catch the gull, however the gull is also trying to escape. As ice dancers, both these animals play the role of partners as the eagle is the "male of the pair" (10) and controlling where and how the gull moves.

What is irony? Does every ironic situation develop a conflict? Can irony really keep a reader at the edge of their seat? According to class discussion, irony is the opposite of what we expect to happen. Additionally, irony is helpful to authors as it gives opportunities for them to keep their stories more intriguing. To demonstrate the idea of irony are three short stories: Sherman Alexie’s “Because My Father Always Said He Was The Only Indian Who Saw Jimmy 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 the three stories are written by different authors, they all use situational irony to keep the reader intrigued.

Most authors have a goal of creating an effect of surprise for the reader through their stories. Situational irony is a device used to create some sort of emotion in a story, specifically a short story. Throughout the two short stories “The Necklace”, written by Guy de Maupassant, and “The Ransom of Red Chief”, by O. Henry, situational irony is used for that purpose. In “The Necklace”, the author uses this device to create a feeling of desire, however in the story “The Ransom of Red Chief”, the author uses situational irony to create a humorous effect.

Irony is usually termed as a technique or way or presenting a topic with one meaning, not disclosing to the reader that a totally different thing has happened. For instance, one might say it is ironic to save up the money to buy your dream car and it sells minutes before you get there. In the mind of someone like Edgar Allan Poe, irony can take one a far deeper meaning. One piece of irony is the name of the victim, Fortunato. This is an Italian word suggesting good fortune. (Cummings, 2005) However, we know from the beginning of the story that his fortune is not good. The more one looks for it, sometimes the more minute the irony can be. Take the description of Fortunato:

The situational irony in the story develops a theme and creates a humor because no one expected their kidnapping to fail. Sam and Bill’s plan backfired. They had to pay instead of getting money for themselves. During the kidnapping, Bill got hurt a lot too. That’s what made the story fun and humorous.

As Oscar Wilde once so eloquently said, “Irony is wasted on the stupid.” Irony is a valuable tool, the hero of countless works of classic literature. It can be used to drive home a point that might otherwise fall flat, to illustrate an argument that might otherwise be resolved in a murmur. Irony deserves to be appreciated, and to squander it on those who cannot should be a capital offense. It is one of the devices used skillfully to portray the theme that things are not always as they appear by the authors Donald Justice and O. Henry in their respective works, Incident in the Rose Garden and Hearts and Hands.

Between the stories Of “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Poe, and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway, the authors are able to control these stories through the use of irony, defined as a “contrast or incongruity between expectations for a situation and what is reality. This can be a difference between the surface meaning of something that is said and the underlying meaning” (http://www.literarydevices.com/irony/). Within these short stories, each author has been able to bring the reader into the story by giving them the opportunity to endure the thoughts and feelings of individual characters which include the taste for revenge, and the bitter truth of a marriage. The way irony is placed into the stories has given the chance to develop the overall theme for both; revenge.