The Ransom of Red Chief

“Bill and me had a joint capital of about six hundred dollars, and we needed just two thousand dollars more to pull off a fraudulent town-lot scheme in Western Illinois with.”

Money is a key symbol and serves as the motive for Sam and Bill’s criminal scheming. They want to gather capital so that they can leave the area and commit a larger and more lucrative crime. This line characterizes the men as deplorable career criminals. However, this view of the cons is challenged as the narrative depicts them more sympathetically and as victims of the Dorsets.

“The father was respectable and tight, a mortgage financier and a stern, upright collection-plate passer and forecloser.”

The characterization of Ebenezer Dorset develops the theme of Morality and Greed. Although Dorset is the supposed sympathetic victim of a kidnapping ransom, he is portrayed as a greedy hypocrite who has no trouble taking advantage of the poor. O. Henry turns the reader against Dorset, creating a sense that he deserves to be a victim of a financial crime as retribution for taking advantage of poor individuals.

“The kid was in the street, throwing rocks at a kitten on the opposite fence.”

When Sam and Bill find Johnny, he is alone outside at night, and he is tormenting an innocent kitten. This scene foreshadows Johnny’s cruel tendencies and Ebenezer Dorset’s emotional distance. Meanwhile, Sam and Bill are oblivious to the child’s untamable violence. Throwing rocks also becomes a motif of Johnny’s violence, as he uses rocks as weapons throughout the story.

“The fun of camping out in a cave had made him forget that he was a captive himself.”

One of the key instances of irony in “The Ransom of Red Chief” appears in how O. Henry subverts Johnny’s role as a kidnapping victim. One would expect him to feel scared and intimidated and to want to return to his home. However, Johnny is having fun by pretending that Sam and Bill—or Old Hank and Snake-eye—are his captives. In time, the men ironically become Johnny’s captives.

“Aw, what for? [...] I don’t have any fun at home. I hate to go to school. I like to camp out. You won’t take me back home again, Snake-eye, will you?”

Johnny prefers to stay in the cave with the men than return to his home, which develops the theme of Desperation for Freedom. He does not have any rules in the cave, whereas at home and at school, he is expected to behave himself. He views Sam and Bill as playmates rather than as authority figures. Johnny’s attitude also suggests the emotional distance between himself and his father. Johnny does not miss his family, and he has no interest in returning to his home.

“It’s an awful thing to hear a strong, desperate, fat man scream incontinently in a cave at daybreak.”

O. Henry uses imagery to help the reader envision the contrast between Bill’s appearance and his fear of Johnny. Bill is a larger adult man, and his fear of Johnny is portrayed as comedically irrational. The line is also a prominent example of O. Henry’s use of humor. Johnny has a real knife held to Bill’s head—a scary scene—but the language O. Henry uses carries a humous tone, which lightens the intensity of the interaction between the man and the child.

“Ain’t it awful, Sam? Do you think anybody will pay out money to get a little imp like that back home?”

Bill is starting to realize that his plan is not going to pan out. He has spent more time with Johnny, and he does not think that Dorset is going to pay them for Johnny’s return. The line also supports Bill’s characterization as a sidekick. He forms his thoughts into a question rather than as a statement. Sam, as the leader, shoots down the question and ignores Bill’s concerns.

“He put a red-hot boiled potato down my back […] and then mashed it with his foot; and I boxed his ears. Have you got a gun about you, Sam?”

This excerpt develops the theme of Cruelty and Violence. Bill tries to punish Johnny for his violent games, but Johnny does not see Bill as an authority figure. Johnny, in turn, punishes Bill. Bill’s question about the gun is an empty threat. He is much larger and stronger than Johnny, and although he has many opportunities to hurt the child, he does not. Time and again, Bill gives into Johnny’s games, suggesting Bill is naturally compassionate, albeit frustrated.

“I’ve stood by you without batting an eye in earthquakes, fire and flood—in poker games, dynamite outrages, police raids, train robberies and cyclones. I never lost my nerve yet till we kidnapped that two-legged skyrocket of a kid.”

Bill has followed Sam through hardships and illegal schemes, and he has not wavered. Johnny, however, is enough to make Bill consider parting from Sam. This line further supports the characterization of Sam and Bill as career criminals. The intensity of Johnny’s antagonistic behavior develops the theme of Cruelty and Violence.

“I was rode […] the ninety miles to the stockade, no barring an inch. Then when the settlers was rescued, I was given oats. Sand ain’t a palatable substitute.”

Johnny goes beyond ignoring Bill as an authority figure. The child dehumanizes Bill, and Bill allows this behavior for quite some time. He lets Johnny ride him “the ninety miles to the stockade,” and he pretends to eat sand. Bill has a meek personality, which contrasts with his criminal actions. Both Johnny and Sam take advantage of Bill’s accommodating nature—Johnny, by forcing Bill into playing demeaning games, and Sam by dismissing Bill’s concerns yet leaving him to deal with Johnny on his own.

“On the way, he kicks my legs black-and-blue from the knees down; and I’ve got to have two or three bites on my thumb and hand cauterized.”

Johnny ironically fights against going home, which develops the theme of Desperation for Freedom. One expects that a victim of kidnap would want to return home, but that is not the case with Johnny. He is having too much fun camping out and tormenting Bill; he does not want to return to his boring home where he must attend school and listen to his father.

“You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and I agree to take him off your hands.”

Rather than paying to get his son back, Dorset wants Sam and Bill to pay him. While the ironic twist does contribute to the humorous tone of the story, it also reveals the cold relationship between Dorset and his son. Dorset would rather risk losing his son than pay to get him back, an action which thematically develops Morality and Greed. Although he may simply be calling the criminals’ bluff, he is also risking the chance that they might harm his son.

“Just at the moment when I should have been abstracting the fifteen hundred dollars from the box under the tree, according to the original proposition, Bill was counting out two hundred and fifty dollars into Dorset’s hand.”

The story’s irony culminates when Johnny is unknowingly brought home, and Sam and Bill must pay Dorset to take him back. Sam, who narrates the story, has a bitter tone as he describes the scene. He did not spend as much time around Johnny, and Johnny had more respect for Sam as an authority figure. Sam is more disappointed and annoyed, while Bill is willingly handing the money over to Dorset.