Situational Irony In Ransom Of Red Chief

What is revenge? It can boil a human’s brain and may feel like a scorching sandstorm brewing inside someone’s body. Humiliation, covetousness, dishonesty, and exasperation are all common reasons why the intricate mind of a human being may seek revenge. Of course revenge may satisfy individuals, teach victims the lesson of an eye-for-an-eye, and could very well show others that some people may not back down after being struck in the throat. However, two wrongs do not make a right, a person’s reputation may be permanently stained, and negative emotions will swarm the mind. Throughout “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor’s menacing mind is brimming with dark and diabolical thoughts of revenge. Edgar Allen Poe creates an interest for the

“The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive.” This quote by Robert A. Heinlein matches the Crucible perfectly because by the end of the story, many people will have died because of ironic circumstances. In regards to this, there are three types of irony that appear in the Crucible; they are situational, dramatic, and verbal.

In this story and short film, there are a lot of similarities and differences between the two. In The Ransom of Red Chief movie, Bill and Sam kidnapped Red Chief and put him in a box, yet in the story, they tied him up. Another difference is that Red Chief’s name, in the movie, is Andrew. In the story Red Chief’s actual name is Johnny. In the movie, Red Chief runs away but, in the story, Red Chief didn’t leave the cave. Red Chief decided to take Sam and Bill’s car out for a joy ride in the movie. There are a lot of other differences but, there are some similarities too!

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 short story The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell uses irony to develop the plot and characters. It also uses irony to make the story more interesting and suspenseful.

Situational irony occurs when an outcome is different from what is expected. One occurrence of this is when Mr. Shiftlet says, “People don’t care how they live.” This shows that Mr. Shiftlet does not care how he lives and that he is only interested in getting the Crater’s family possessions. Another instance happens when Mr. Shiftlet says that the only trouble in the world is that no one cares. He does not care for the Lucynell, the mother, and Lucynell, the daughter. Mr. Shiftlet only wants to collect their car and money, and then get away. This is why he left Lucynell at the dinner, because he does not care about her. Mr. Shiftlet also comments, “There’s some men that some things mean more to them than money.” Mr. Shiftlet only marries Lucynell, the daughter, for the car, and then leaves her at the dinner. He only cares about the money and

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 story “Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, it symbolizes irony numerous times throughout the story. One of the often examples of irony is described when the story entails Prince Prospero name as a wealthy prince but ends up dying to the horrifying, twisted, red death, “There was a sharp cry. Fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero”(178). This is especially ironic because his name appears to represents a prince of extraordinary fortunate. Therefore this infers he would have the “the best of luck” but dies due to the horrible plague. While his name is ironic, the rich, noble people at the party also believe that they can elude death but ultimately lead to their demise. In the short story, everyone dies to the

Alexandre Dumas was a master of literature; the sheer artistry in The Count of Monte Cristo makes this abundantly clear. His command of parallelism, his employ of subtle yet vivid characterization, and, most markedly, his frequent use of irony are the evidence. The latter in particular is common and used for a purpose. At times, irony is applied to insert a sliver of humor into otherwise heavy scenes; this is especially true with Dumas’s application of verbal irony. At other times, irony is exercised in order to act as a plot point. Overall, the author’s use of irony is crucial to the story’s progression.

This humorous short story, the amount of irony will make you wonder if it is all just a joke. In the story, “The Ransom of Red Chief,” a man and a woman need $2000 quick. They plan to kidnap a child from a small town named summit. Then they will make a ransom for the child for $2000. But, little do they know that the kid is a huge trouble maker. “The kid was in the street, throwing rocks at a kitten on the opposite fence.” This sets off humorous irony that the kidnappers will find out later on. The kidnappers end up taking the kid after he fights back. Once they get to the cave where they live, Red Chief has a different mood then you would expect. He

The definition of irony is a contrast between two things. One example is verbal irony. It is a contrast between what someone says and what one means, while dramatic irony is a contrast between what the characters know to be true and what the readers know to be true. Many writers use irony in their short stories to prove a dramatic point, or just to develop a story for upcoming use. These short stories by Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” (140), Susan Glaspell’s “A Jury of Her Peers” (183), and Stephen Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” (229), spin a tale of symbolic irony. Each tell a tale paradoxical twists with sublime contradiction where one is led to believe one side of an event, yet it is dragged down a twisted trail of mental sarcasms coupled with death. It is a known fact that many tales of irony require many major events to twist the order they are written in to create a viewpoint that stride away from the main topic or where the author wants the reader to end up.

The next type of noticeable irony in The Crucible is situational irony. This irony is defined as is a difference between what is expected to happen in a story versus what actually happens. One example of situational irony occurred for the accused: the punishment of the "witches". Will they die because they honestly claim they aren't witches or will they live a life of lying about their true witch identity? Goody Proctor was a genuine and honest person, and yet, she died with the truth that she was innocent of witchcraft. Which is truly more important: your desires or common morals? Another example of situational irony takes place in the courts of Act III, the sin of wrong-doing buried in the heart of John Proctor, when he finally admits he

Appearances can be deceiving. The Crucible exemplifies this statement at the crux of a tangled web of lies. Each and every character has a personal agenda and the constant betrayal casts a shadow of darkness over the town of Salem. This very darkness makes the people lose their reason and turn against each other. Amidst a series of persecutions, Miller has used situational, dramatic, and verbal irony to create tension and make the reader question the transparency of every motive.

Running on Empty: Egocentrism At Its Finest One’s thoughtless actions are always surprised by the consequences. This is illustrated in the plot of the book, Running on Empty by Don Aker. In this novel, a teen by the name of Ethan Palmer lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with his sister, father and his stepmother. Ethan, the protagonist of the novel is always pestered by his father, Jack Palmer, as Jack teaches him life lessons. Jack Palmer, a lawyer and a politician, making a surplus of money does not spend money on Ethan, as Jack wants him to earn money on his own and be independent, teaching him morals.

Written by Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage is a novel filled with irony. This story is written in the point of view of the main character, Henry Fleming, and tells about his maturation through the war. Including the title, from the beginning to the end of the book there is irony present. The use of irony by Crane helps create a lot of discussion for critics. Henry’s internal debate is a main source of irony in this novel. Also, his fantasy of how he thought war was going to be and how it turned out is ironic.