Examples Of Irony In Ransom Of Red Chief

Words: 452
Pages: 2

Isn’t it funny how things do not always work out the way we expect them to? In instances like this, irony is often used to help emphasize the feeling or mood of the situation. In the story Ransom of Red Chief, this is a frequent occurrence, especially in one character named Bill. While many other characters exhibit some type of irony, Bill is undeniably the most ironic.

For instance, Bill, throughout the story was always foreshadowed to be ironic. Bill is described in the story as “A strong, desperate, fat man” and if you have ever watched a movie with a heavy person in it, the producers will most likely use many stereotypes that are associated with the kind of person they are, but Bill is different. Like when the child tried to scalp
…show more content…
When Johnny tormented Bill the only irony that came out of the situation was how Bill was the victim. Bill was also the one who had said “What's two hundred and fifty dollars after all?” to make sure Johnny was out of their hands. Doing this caused the biggest representation of irony in the book, the kidnappers paying money instead of receiving money from the ransom. We know that Johnny is not the cause of Bill’s irony because even when Red Chief was returned back home, Bill still continued to be ironic. Because of this Bill has single-handedly created a large portion of irony in the plot.

Although many other characters show irony in some way, Bill exhibits all 3 types. He uses Verbal Irony when he references King Herod, Situational when he screams like a woman, and dramatic when Johnny appears behind him and he does not know it. Despite Sam using a large amount of verbal irony, he is still not as ironic as Bill. Bill shows irony a total of (number) times while Sam only uses it (number).

Ultimately, because Bill was the cause of some irony, was predicted and intended to be an ironic character, and shows not one, but all types of irony clearly proves that Bill is the most ironic character in Ransom of Red Chief. Because of this, why wouldn't Bill be the obvious choice when deciding which character is the most