Question

as she went down the path he started to close the closet door; then paused as he remembered his hunting boots drying outside on the porch. they belonged in the closet, so leaving the door open he went to fetch them from the heavy, rustic table on which they stood, along with his bag and top coat. alec was coming up from the lake and waved to him from a distance. a chipmunk, hearing judsons heavy tread, abandoned the acorn he was about to add to his store within the cabin wall and disappeared, like an electric bulb burning out. judson, reaching for his boots, stepped fairly upon the acorn, his foot slid from under him and his head struck the massive table as he fell. several minutes later he began to regain his senses. alecs strong arm was supporting his head as he lay on the porch and a kindly voice was saying: twasnt much of a fall, mr. webb. you arent cut none; jest knocked out for a minute. here, take this; itll pull you together. a small whiskey glass was pressed to his lips. dazed and half - conscious, he drank. ruthless by william demille, from the anthology 50 short stories: an omnibus of short stories, edited by mary anne howard (1945), is in the public domain. notes 1 tang (noun) a strong taste, flavor, or smell 2 the equipment required for a task or sport; in this case, for fishing 3 a small hard ball or tube - shaped piece of any substance 1. paragraphs 27 - 29: why is the resolution of ruthless an example of both dramatic irony and situational irony?

Explanation:

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something the characters do not. In "Ruthless", perhaps the audience is aware of some underlying danger or situation that the characters like Judson are not, adding tension. Situational irony is when what happens is the opposite of what is expected. Judson goes to get his boots (a normal action) but instead has an accident by stepping on an acorn - an unexpected outcome.

Answer:

The resolution may contain dramatic irony if the reader is aware of certain circumstances that the characters are not, creating a gap in knowledge. It is situational irony because Judson's attempt to retrieve his boots, a routine task, leads to an unforeseen and opposite - of - expected result (the fall).