Dec 26, 2009

The Ransom of Red Chief | The Ransom of Red Chief

At a glance:

Author: O. Henry
First Published: 1907
Type of Plot: Wit and humor
Time of Work: The early twentieth century
Setting: Summit, Alabama
Principal Characters: Sam, Bill Driscoll, Johnny Dorset “Red Chief, Ebenezer Dorset
Genres: Short fiction
Subjects: Children, Kidnapping, Comedy
Locales: Summit, AL

The Story

The pattern of “The Ransom of Red Chief” is suggested by the first sentence of the story: “It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you.” The story is essentially ironic; in a series of comic reversals, the expected event is replaced by its opposite. From the name of the town where the story takes place, Summit, which is perfectly flat, to the end of the story, where a fat man outruns the thin narrator, that which the narrator anticipates never does occur.

The “good thing” that Sam and Bill have planned is a kidnapping. Early in the story,...

[The entire page is 1254 words long]

The Ransom of Red Chief | The Ransom of Red Chief

At a glance:

The Story

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