The Irony In The Gift Of The Magi

Irony happens in a lot of places in the stories Flowers for Algernon and The Necklace. Irony happens in The Necklace when Mathilde loses her friends Necklace she bought a 36 thousand franc necklace. Meanwhile, the necklace that she actually lost was only worth about 500 francs. In The Necklace, the irony is shown when “Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her hands. “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was at the very most five hundred francs!..” (Maupassant, 5). It is ironic that she spent ten years paying for something that was worth less than the necklace that she bought to replace the false necklace with. There is also irony in Flowers for Algernon when Charlie is unhappy due to the operation that

For instance in The Gift of the Magi situational irony is used to highlight the selflessness of Della and Jim. They sell their most prized possessions so that they can buy a Christmas gift for one another, only to find out that their gifts are consequently useless. Meanwhile, in Poison, situational irony is what outlines the theme of the story. Harry was afraid of a venomous snake poisoning him when the only real poison in the story was the poison that existed within him self. Another good example of situational irony can be found in The Most Dangerous Game.

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

A third instance of dramatic irony is the situation with the needle in the doll. With this, it was Abigail´s goal to get Elizabeth Proctor accused of witchcraft. Mary Warren made this doll when Abigail was sitting next to her. She left the needle inside. Mary gave the doll to Elizabeth as a gift. Abigail knew the needle was in the doll, so she stabbed herself in the stomach with a needle. With this she made the people believe Elizabeth used Voodoo on her and therefore used witchcraft. The audience knows this is not true and that Abigail is a false and lying girl. We know she does this is because she wants to get rid of Elizabeth. She is in the way of Abigail and that has still to do with the affair only the Proctors and the audience know about.

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.

The second use of irony is the fact that the necklace turns out to be a fake, and they have to replace it with a real diamond necklace worth thirty-six thousand French francs. Madame Forestier tells Madame Loisel that she lent her a fake necklace, meaning that all ten of the years she has worked to repay it are worthless (10). Madame Loisel and her husband work ten long and hard years to pay off their necklace because of her pride and inability to tell Madame Forestier what truly happened to the necklace.The third example is Madame Loisel borrowing the necklace to appear richer when it reality it’s a fake intended to make Madame Forestier look richer. Maupassant demonstrates Madame Loisel’s middle-class station by writing, “He

This leads to her idea of selling her most prized possession: her hair, to get Jim his present. Meanwhile, Jim decides to sell his most prized possession which was a pocket-watch that was passed down from his grandfather to his father and then to him. He sells that watch and buys Della a set of beautiful tortoise shell combs for her hair. Thus leading to the use of situational irony in which they both receive gifts for something they gave up in order to give the other a gift.

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.

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.

For instance, when the readers think of a National Guard, one would imagine him or her as keeping the peace in a violent situation. However, in this case the National Guard ends up getting beat up by a civilian. This is portrayed when Alexie writes, “In his hands my father holds a rifle above his head, captured in that moment just before he proceeded to beat the shit out of the National Guard private lying prone on the ground” (Alexie 25). This displays situational irony because the reader expects the National Guard to protect everyone from violence, but he is the one who ends up getting hurt. Another instance where situational irony is displayed in this short story is when the mother and father are discussing heroes. One would expect a person’s hero to be intelligent, successful, and a person of many talents. Contrary to this belief, Victor’s hero is a rock star who had many personal problems and died a terrible death. This is shown when the story says, “’Only the good die young,’ my father

Tessie Hutchinson, has won the lottery, instead of being happy, she is full of dread. The lottery is meant for winning astonishing prizes and ,never to be heard of, amounts of money. Tessie Hutchinson has got the exact opposite of what's expected of winning the lottery. Her grand prize is to be stoned to death. By no other than her beloved family and amazing friends. This is situational Irony, an unexpected twist. Situational Irony makes the reader feel surprised, by some unfaithful or amazing event. O.Henry’s “ The Ransom of Red Chief”, uses humor to display situational irony, while Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” uses situational irony to prove justice. By examining these two short stories: “The Ransom of Red Chief” and “The Necklace” it is present how the author uses situational irony to change the what the reader feels about the character.

Conflict is opposing actions, ideas, and decisions that hold a plot together. Clugston (2014) states “Conflict is the struggle that shapes the plot in a story” (4.1 Plot, para. 4). Conflicts are also encountered in most of the literature we read for pleasure. It can create personal connections and instill deeper meanings to our experiences as we read, especially if we can relate what is read to our personal life.

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.

In the stories “Story of an Hour”, “Everyday Use”, “The Necklace”, and “The Lottery” it is evident that irony was quite a large part of the short story. There is situational irony, which is when the situation turns out differently than expected. Also, dramatic irony is present, which is when you as a reader knows more than the character. The authors seem to base their whole story around irony to surprise their readers.

“My purpose is to show that in every human heart there is an innate tendency towards a respectable life; that even those who have fallen to the lowest depths in the social scale would, if they could, get back to the higher life…”(Rollins 7-8 ). O`Henry came up with this philosophy when writing his many different, entertaining stories. “The Gift of the Magi” was initially published in 1906 in O`Henry`s second collection of stories. “The Gift of the Magi” is a perfect story to illustrate how people do anything for the ones they love. The main characters each sell their most valued possession in order to buy the other the perfect Christmas present. They each bought the other something to complement their prized possession. Ironically, they had both sold their prized possession to get the other a gift.However, they bought gifts that were now useless to one another. Themes have some aspect of life, general truth, or moral that is shown throughout the story by the author. The themes in this short story really stand out to the reader. The way in which the two main characters demonstrate their selflessness for each other helps to emphasize the three major themes: poverty, love, and sacrifice.