“It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you,”(Henry, pg.1) about this comedic story that identifies two moronic characters and one holy terror of a child, who they thought they could handle. O. Henry’s short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” is a high level of comedy that uses allusion and irony to convey the idea that you must be wise before pursuing an act, because it may come back to bite you.
Allusion is when the author inputs other literature characters or stories into a comedic situation. The two thieves are out for cold hard cash, and decide their “victim [would be] the only child of a prominent citizen named Ebenezer Dorset,” (Henry, pg.1) from the Southern Alabama town. After kidnapping Ebenezer’s son, the father responds
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as if he were Ebenezer Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol”, and was glad to get rid of the kid.
After many torturous hours spent with the irritating child, the two soon want to return the child. Johnny, the young boy, quickly becomes perceived as obnoxious and also is referred to in other ways, such as biblical characters. But to continuate their mischievous plan, they would have to play along with their “chief”; and little did they know, the game would leave some bruises. “Just when [they] heard a kind of war-whoop, such as David might have emitted when he knocked out the champion Goliath.”(Henry, pg.5) The author uses this to express the similarity between “[the] sling that Red Chief had pulled out of his pocket,”(Henry, pg.5) and the story of the mighty Goliath being destroyed by the weak, David. They were both unexpected, which adds meaning in this humorous scenario. Immediately following the “war-whoop” from the Red Chief, came the attack on Bill. The aftermath of the intense chase consisted of the direct allusion of King Herod. Bill’s anger is quickly indicated by his question to Sam, on whom …show more content…
his favorite biblical character was. It is interpreted instantly by Sam, “Take it easy... You’ll come to your senses presently.”(Henry, pg.6) The rambunctious child helps lead to an irritant mood, and Bill considers becoming the new King Herod. With the use of strong allusions, the text provides a whole new tone, similar to a tall tale, and process of thinking, which adds a considerably large level of comedy. To say the least, the entire short story is ironic.
There is an immense amount of irony, because the kidnappers thought they would be in charge of the innocent, red-head boy, but he easily obtains the power. When first putting their plan into action, they are stumped when the boy throws a rock in Bill’s eye, in response to “...would you like to have a bag of candy and a nice ride?”(Henry, pg.2) The author uses this opportunity to implement sarcasm in this ironic moment, when “that boy put up a fight like a welterweight cinnamon bear,”(Henry, pg.2) and the thieves were finally able to place the boy in their buggy, after wrestling like they were in an arena. That little boy sure had a big punch. But, once they reached their cave, the unanticipated had occurred, “that boy seemed to be having the time of his life.”(Henry, pg.2) Sam and Bill planned to punish him and assumed he would be bawling to leave, however he smiled continuously and begged to stay. “I fell into a troubled sleep, and dreamed that I had been kidnapped and chained to a tree by a ferocious pirate with red hair.”(Henry, pg.3) Never would Sam have thought he would be the one fearing his victim, a ten year old boy. Their whole plan was to gain $1,500 from this torturous experience; but paradoxically, they ended up losing $250 to Ebenezer from their prior money, just so they could get rid of the boy. The irony was held in the small, but mighty victim the whole
time. What goes around comes around. Henry targets the confident, yet mischievous grown men, whom fail to withhold their task of capturing a young boy, so they could receive money from the boy’s father. Bill and Sam were very unaware that looks can be deceiving and it isn’t clever to prey on people you know nothing about. They went in believing that they would be in control and reap the ransom; but in the end, they were not only bruised and dominated, and left poorer. “It looked like a good thing,”(Henry, pg.1) but eventually came back to burn those who started the fire. Overall, Henry did an excellent job at implementing humorous elements, such as irony and allusion, and providing us with a great thought process, leading to a high level of comedy.
Markus Zusak displays many forms of Irony in his novel “The Book Thief”. Without all of the irony in the book, I fear that it would be quite boring and not very exciting to read. The first example of irony in “The Book Thief” is Liesel’s obsession with stealing books. She came to Munich as an orphan that could not read or even spell her own name, and yet she loves stealing books. Liesel’s reading and writing do advance throughout the novel, but when she could not read, she would steal books for what seemed to be no particular reason. Hans Hubberman thought that she was stealing book just so she could have words near her, while Rosa Hubberman thought she was doing it just to be a menace. Her book stealing all started
In the Movie, “Ransom of Red Chief”, and in the book, there are some similarities and some differences. The first difference was Red Chief, or better known as Johnny. In the movie he was a small, blonde headed little boy, but in the story he was a small, red headed little boy with a bunch of freckles. In addition to that in the movie the kidnappers, bill and Sam, took red chief to the woods and set up camp, but in the book it states that they, bill, Sam, and red chief, slept in a cave and camped there. Last but not least was red chief. In the movie red chief also stole bill and Sam’s car and he also put a snake in bill’s bed, but in the story he did neither of those things.
Like salt and pepper to beef, irony adds “flavor” to some of the greatest works of literature. No matter if readers look at old pieces of work like Romeo and Juliet or more modern novels like To Kill a Mockingbird, irony’s presence serve as the soul fuel that pushes stories forward. By definition, irony occurs when writers of books, plays, or movies destine for one event or choice to occur when the audiences expects the opposite; like Tom Robinson being found guilty after all evidences point other ways in To Kill a Mockingbird. These unique plot twists add mystery and enjoyability to hundreds of books. From the very beginning of The Chosen, a novel written by Chaim Potok, to the very end, irony’s presences does not leave the reader at any
Throughout the historic course of literature, one story known as “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Cornell has incorporated specific types of irony for multiple differing and fundamental reasons. Situational irony is the first use of ironic elements that will be discussed in regards to the story. Situational irony is defined as “an incongruity that appears between the expectations of something to happen, and what actually happens instead ” (literarydevices.net). The story’s climax offers a unique twist to the plot as it includes an unexpected discovery, ultimately incorporating situational irony into the sequence of events. The story starts out with the introduction of the legendary hunter Bob Rainsford as he is shipwrecked and trapped on a deserted island. While staying on the island, Rainsford is introduced to the eccentric General Zaroff, who is a self proclaimed expert hunter as well. In short, the General turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who forces Rainsford into a game of “cat and mouse”, which causes Rainsford to fight for his life. This state of affair is considered to be situational irony because Zaroff defies the expectations of being a hunter to the audience. This is specifically shown in the text when Rainsford confronts General Zaroff in regards to what he is hunting:
Situational irony is used in both O’Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief” and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant but the effect of the techniques on the tone of each story is very different. In O’Henry’s story, the protagonist, Red Chief, is being kidnapped by two criminals, Bill and Sam. There are many ironic events that occur in the story. For example, the reader expects Red Chief to want to go back home to his family but instead, he is having the time of his life. As hard as Bill tries, he cannot even send him home. Bill utters to Sam, “‘I showed him the road to Summit and kicked him about eight feet nearer there at one kick’” (6). This is comical because it is using a literary technique known as slapstick comedy. The reader can imagine Bill swinging his leg and kicking Red Chief all the way back to Summit. Another example of situational irony in the story is that the reader would expect that Red Chief to be scared but what is actually happening is that Bill is terrified. While speaking with Sam, Bill complains about Red chief yet again, “‘I’ve stood by you without batting an eye ...
In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger, an orphaned little girl living in Nazi Germany, evolves partly through her numerous literary thefts. At her younger brother’s gravesite, she steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, which teaches her not only the method to physically bury her brother, but also lets her emotionally bury him and move on. The theft of her next book, The Shoulder Shrug, from a book burning marks the start of Liesel’s awareness and resistance to the Nazi regime. As a story with a Jewish protagonist “who [is] tired of letting life pass him by – what he refer[s] to as the shrugging of the shoulders to the problems and pleasures of a person’s time on earth,” this novel prepares her both for resisting the
The purpose of this irony is to shock the reader, since ironic things are by definition unexpected, it works well as a twist in the story.
An allusion is a reference to a famous person, place, or historical event. Ray Bradbury wrote the book, Fahrenheit 451, which is filled with all sorts of allusions . The book is about people living in a dystopia where it is a crime to read books. If you are caught reading a book your house will be burnt down by the firemen. Which is ironic because firemen usually put out fires rather than start them. Since the government has so much power over the citizens, they have no knowledge other than the facts they are told in school. Their society has become brainwashed ,and act like robots. The people have no feelings , but that will soon change with help from the book people. To provide deeper meaning Bradbury includes
On their way to find Death, the three rioters stumble upon an old sorrowful man in a shack. The old man hears the three men ranting on about their quest to find death and tells them he has been waiting for Death to come get him, for Death has traveled all over the world. Hearing the old man bring up death, the three men demand the old man to tell them where they can find death so they can kill it. The old man tells them they can find death under the oak tree, the rioters run to find the oak tree and find nothing but a bag full of gold coins. Confused because they did not find death where the old man said they could, they forget about why they were looking for and think about how their lives will become better with the golden coins they have found also they think about not being able to walk back to town with the gold coins or they would all be taken as thieves. There is several examples of irony in the story as well. Example one would be when they all agreed that know matter what they will not become greedy and turn their back on one another because they are like
“Fear me,love me,do as I say,I’ll be your slave” says Jareth The Goblin King from the Labyrinth. By using irony, the author of a story can create a surprising events. Authors use multiple kinds of irony to make stories more surprising.
An allusion is defined as a brief or unexplained reference to a person, place, or thing of historical or literary significance. Near the novel’s end, the author utilizes allusion, writing “There’s a quiz in English class. It’s Tess of d’Urbervilles, which I’ve read. I think Rhiannon does well.” The main protagonist, A, has been moving around from school to school his entire life.
Irony can be defined as expressing the opposite of what is meant. This is a great technique of the sense of humor and sarcasm used in the proposal. and in the Swift language. One of the voices that are present throughout the story is that of irony. The snares are a snare.
This idea Henry has gotten in his mind about war being so exciting and making heroes makes a lot of sense. War has always been something that is glamorized in the world. Whether it be a book about it or a movie, war always seems like something fascinating. They make it seem war is this fascinating adventure that changes you for the better and you are seen as a hero afterwards. Henry takes a lot from the Greek gods where a lot of them are war heroes. What people don't realize is that these stories and movies are not realistic. They show war in a prettier way. They romanticize it and make it something better than it really is.
Allusion, or a passing reference to something in the Bible, history, or literature, is used in the play as a way of letting the reader and audience gain depth into the story and overall it helps the actors get the meaning they are trying to convey across to the audience.
Within the story, the writer’s choice of diction cacophonous, creating Goliath to sound more harsh. The writer describes Goliath as a giant measuring over nine feet tall which would cause any man to fear going to battle against him. For example, words such as “kill” and “giant” which causes a harsh connotation. In addition to the cacophonous diction, the writer has phrases like “killed him” and “cut off his head.” The words and phrases the writer uses are more harsh than they need to be and also simple which give the story summary a cacophonous diction.