Amusement in “Red Chief's Ransom”According to Dictionary.com, humor is a comic and absurd quality that causes amusement. In the short historical fiction story "Red Chief's Ransom", O. Henry adds humor using literary devices. Allusion, puns and irony are some of the literary devices that O. Henry uses to create levity in his story. Allusion, in particular, is effective in creating humor because it uses prior knowledge to make a scene, expression, town or village funny. For example, O. Henry shows how Red Chief tries to scalp Bill, as he warned earlier. O. Henry writes: “Just at daybreak, [Bill] was awakened by a series of horrible screams from Bill. They were not screams, or howls, or howls, or shouts, or whoops, or yawns, such as [one might] expect from a virile set of vocal organs. - they were simply indecent, terrifying and humiliating cries like those that women emit when they see ghosts or caterpillars” (Henri 51). Another example is when Johnny tries to ride Bill like a horse....