Ransom of the Red Chief by O.Henry
Sam and Bill were two friends who resided in a remote part of Alabama. They had amassed a total of $600. They required only $2,000 to purchase some land. They intended to abduct Mr Ebenezer Dorset’s ten-year-old son in Summit, a tiny town. They identified a well-known cave nearby and stocked it with sufficient food. They loaded the boy into a cart and drove away one evening, shortly after dark. The boy fought valiantly and even struck Bill in the eyes with a chunk of brick. As they neared the cave, the boy developed an affinity for those men and their way of life in the cave. He pretended to be Red Chief and coined the moniker Sam Snake-eye for himself. He armed himself with a stick that doubled as a rifle. He quickly became out of control.
He threatened to smash Bill with a rock half the size of a coconut, then smashed a red-hot baked potato on his back with his foot. Bill’s head would be scalped, he threatened. While Bill was playing with his sling, an egg-sized rock became lodged behind his left ear, causing him to lose his balance and fall onto the fire, where he was burned. He rode on Bill’s back for ninety miles, simulating horseback riding, and booted Bill black and blue along the way. Additionally, he stated that Sam would be tied to a pole and set on fire. He forbade Bill and Sam from sleeping for an entire night. Bill and Sam were compelled to keep a careful eye on his actions as a result of all of these factors.
Sam travelled to a nearby town and discovered that word of the boy’s disappearance had spread. He returned to discover Bill in a state of despair, even fear. They both wrote a letter to the boy’s father requesting a fifteen hundred dollar ransom. Initially, they intended to seek two thousand dollars from him, but the amount was cut to this amount at Bill’s request. Mr Dorset was instructed in the letter to dispatch a messenger to a certain location in Poplar Cove with a response to their demand. It warned him that if the money was not paid, he would never see his son again.
A messenger carrying a note arrived at the designated hour in the night. Sam picked it up and discovered it contained odd contents. Rather than paying the kidnappers the stipulated sum, Mr Dorset wanted two hundred and fifty dollars in exchange for returning the boy. Bill argued that the amount asked was trivial in comparison to their ordeal at the hands of the boy. They took the boy home at night, paid Mr Dorset the money, and fled. Sam found it extremely difficult to accompany Bill because Bill was fleeing from the boy at a breakneck pace, gripped with panic.
Questions and Answers
Q. What is ironic about calling the town Summit?
Ans. It is ironic to call the town Summit because it means the highest point or top of a mountain. The town is as “flat as a flannel cake.”
Q. Why did the men choose Summit for kidnapping?
Ans. Bill and Sam think that in Summit parents love their children more than in other places and there were not enough policemen.
Q. What is ironic or unexpected about The Ransom of Red Chief?
Ans. The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry is filled with irony as a plan to kidnap and boy and hold him for ransom goes terribly wrong. This occurs when instead of getting a ransom for Red Chief, Bill and Sam end up paying the boy’s father for taking him back.
Q. What is the significance of the games played by Johny in the story The Ransom of Red Chief?
