The Luck of Roaring Camp: Situational Irony 2 key examples

In an example of situational irony, the miners at Roaring Camp name Cherokee Sal’s baby “the Luck” and, despite experiencing short-term financial luck after the baby’s birth, ultimately end up losing their homes and/or dying in a flood not long after. In other words, the presence of “the Luck” at Roaring Camp turns out to be anything but lucky, as the community is brought down in a massive flood at the end of the story.

The situational irony comes across in the following passage, as the surviving members of Roaring Camp find Kentuck and the Luck after the flood:

It needed but a glance to show them Kentuck lying there, cruelly crushed and bruised, but still holding the Luck of Roaring Camp in his arms. As they bent over the strangely assorted pair, they saw that the child was cold and pulseless. “He is dead,” said one. Kentuck opened his eyes. “Dead?” he repeated feebly. “Yes, my man, and you are dying too.”

Cite this Quote

In an example of situational irony, the most masculine and hardened outlaw at Roaring Camp (Kentuck) immediately fawns over the newborn baby Luck. The irony comes across in the following passage, when Kentuck first meets the baby:

As Kentuck bent over the candle-box half curiously, the child turned, and, in a spasm of pain, caught at his groping finger, and held it fast for a moment. Kentuck looked foolish and embarrassed. Something like a blush tried to assert itself in his weather-beaten cheek. “The d—d little cuss!” he said, as he extricated his finger, with, perhaps, more tenderness and care than he might have been deemed capable of showing. He held that finger a little apart from its fellows as he went out, and examined it curiously.

Cite this Quote