The ransom of red chief by O. Henry (Analysis)

The ransom of red chief

by O. Henry

(Analysis)

 

The ransom of red chief was written by a famous American short story writer, William Sydney Porter. He used to write his stories with the name O. Henry. Form his father he inherited a talent for painting. He was in turn a cartoonist, a laborer, a journalist and a cashier in a bank. He had to spend several years in prison for the embezzlement of money. He used to write short stories in prison also. By the time he left prison he was a famous writer. In all, he wrote about six hundred stories. His stories are famous for their humanity, humor, compassion and irony and for the unexpected twist in the end.

In the story the narrator and his friend Bill Driscoll kidnap the child of an old man Ebenezer Dorset. They kidnap the child for the ransom of two thousand dollars. They have a joint capital of about six hundred dollars and they need just two thousand dollars to buy some land. They keep the child in a cave away from the village but the kid who is about ten yrs. amazes and vexes them that instead of taking the ransom they have to pay two hundred and fifty dollars to the boy’s father for leaving him back.

The narrator and his friend plan to kidnap a child from a country and not from a city because they know that the country cannot get after them with anything stronger than a few constables and may be some lazy dogs and an article or two in the newspaper. They choose the son of an important citizen. They find the boy playing in the street. He was throwing pebbles at a kitten. They make him to sit in their cart by force. The boy fights with them like a middle-sized bear and in this fighting, Bill Driscoll has got some cuts on his legs and some scratches on his face. In the story the boy has been portrayed as a mischievous one and Bill is affected by him from the very start. He is so frightened by the boy that he is ready to reduce the ransom from 2000 to 1500 dollars. Bill Driscoll once asks the narrator for a gun because he is so afraid of the boy that he wants to kill him. The narrator of the story somehow manages to bear the boy because he wants to collect the ransom from the boy’s father but if they were not frightened by the boy; his father would be counting two thousand dollars in their hands.

The word ‘kidnappers’ gives us an image of rough, tough and ruthless people but the story shows an opposite image of the kidnappers and the kidnapped. The kidnapped child has been portrayed as bossy character and because of mischiefs and of bossy nature of the boy they had to return the boy to his father with the ransom money of 250 dollars. The story is full of humorous touches like “there is a town down there as flat as a cake and called Summit of course”. There are humorous instances of similes and metaphors in the story like “humiliating screams such as woman would give out when they see ghosts or cockroaches”. “They put up a fight like a middle-sized bear”.

Like other stories of O. Henry ‘the ransom of red chief’ is also known for its humanity, humor, compassion and irony and for the unexpected twist in the end of it. Sam and Bill plan to take ransom but in the end of the story they have to give the ransom.