[IS.12 - All Students]

• Students’ responses about how irony is used in “The Ransom of Red Chief” will show you if students understand the term and whether they require more practice.

• Observing the groups discussing the effects of irony on the stories that they examine will offer the opportunity to identify students who need reteaching.

• Students’ paragraphs about the most effective use of irony will indicate students who need reinforcement.

Focus Question: How does the use of irony affect a literary work? [IS.10 - Struggling Learners]

Say, “Consider the following situation. I assign you a 10-page paper and tell you that it is due tomorrow. You are upset. You had plans to visit several places after school to gather job applications. Instead, you head to the library to work on your paper. As you walk in, the librarian is posting a help-wanted ad on the bulletin board. You jump at the opportunity and succeed in landing the perfect part-time job.”

Say, “That is an example of situational irony. A situation turns out in a very unexpected way, not the way you thought it would. Dramatic irony is another type. In this instance, the audience or other characters know what is about to happen in a play, but the characters do not. This is the time when members of the audience are tempted to shout warnings to the actors.”

Part 1

Read aloud the first paragraph of Thurber’s fable “The Little Girl and the Wolf” and have students predict the story’s outcome. Aside from the traditional tale, there may be a few other ideas. Now read the rest of the fable aloud. (You will probably have to explain the references to the Metro-Goldwyn lion and Calvin Coolidge.) The ending, of course, is unexpected––and is an example of situational irony.

Ask, “How does the use of irony affect the shape of the story?” (The story starts to shift when the little girl recognizes that the individual in the bed is not her grandmother. From there, irony guides the completion of the tale and its moral, giving it the unexpected twist.) “What might be the author’s purpose?” (to entertain with an unexpected turn of events, to show that times are changing and that the role of women is changing, to emphasize that women are capable and efficient)

Part 2

Read aloud O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief” (see Materials). Before any discussion of the story, ask students to write a sentence explaining how irony is used in the story. Collect responses and then discuss them. (The kidnappers think that they are going to collect a ransom, only to discover that they are the ones who have been kidnapped and must ransom their own freedom.) Ask, “What type of irony is used?” (situational irony)

In groups, have students examine the story once more to see how the use of irony shapes the story and what they think the author’s purpose is. Walk around the room to observe students, and then have one of the groups present. Focus discussion on the following ideas:

• The effect of irony starts almost immediately when the narrator Sam says, “But wait till I tell you,” indicating that their plan does not work as they had thought it would.

• Bill and Sam are the kidnappers, but it is Red Chief who inflicts the physical and emotional pain, terrorizing Bill by trying to scalp him, dropping the hot potato down his back, and knocking him out with a rock. All of Red Chief’s actions serve to underscore the irony of their situation.

• The ultimate irony is when the kidnappers must pay the ransom to persuade Red Chief’s father to take him back.

Emphasize that irony is the force that shapes the story. It reverses the traditional kidnapping victim tale and, as the author intended, amuses readers through that reversal.

Part 3

Repeat the exercise with another story, such as Saki’s “The Interlopers” or Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” (see Materials). [IS.11 - ELL Students] Make sure that students trace the way irony helps to shape the stories and gives them the “ironic twist” at the end, as well as identifies its connection to author’s purpose. In the case of these two stories, the author’s purpose is more serious—showing the dangers of being consumed by hatred.

Have students write a paragraph explaining which story of those they have read in this lesson uses irony most effectively, giving reasons and citing evidence from the story.

Extension:

• Students who need additional opportunities for learning might like to perform “The Ransom of Red Chief” as readers’ theater, with students taking roles, including that of the narrator.