The Ransom Of Red Chief Analysis

Bill Nye once stated, “Humor is everywhere in that there’s irony in just about anything a human does”. This is very clear in the story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry, where he uses irony to bring about a humorous tone in his tale. In the story “The Ransom of Red Chief”, the author, O. Henry, uses situational and verbal forms of irony to make the readers of his work laugh because of the humerous tone. Both situational and verbal irony are used throughout the story to develop a humerous tone. Situational irony is used in many instances throughout the story to create humor. One of the first instances of situational irony is when the “would be” kidnappers first carry little “Red Chief” off to their lair. The reader would expect the kidnappers to behave cruely and harshly to the young
One would expect that the father would be very fearful and worries for his son’s well-being. The reader would also expect the father to pay or do anything on order to get his child back. Again the father acts differently than the reader would expect and since he knows what his son is capable of, instead of paying money to get his son back, the kidnappers end up giving the father money to take the child back. This is clearly seen in the text when the father replies to the ransom note left by the kidnappers. “You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars cash, and I agree to take him off your hands. YOu had better come at night for the neighbors believe he is lost and I couldn’t be responsible for what they would do to anybody they saw bringing him back” (Henry 8). This is the ultimate tool in creating a humerous tone because one would expect the kidnappers would be receiving a lot of money to get the child back home. Instead, they have to pay the father to take the child back to his family, so they do not have to deal with his wild antics