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A Retrieved Reformation

by O. Henry

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Themes and Meaning in "A Retrieved Reformation"

Summary:

"A Retrieved Reformation" by O. Henry explores themes of redemption, transformation, and love. The story highlights how the protagonist, Jimmy Valentine, changes from a criminal to an honest man due to love and a desire for a better life. It suggests that people are capable of change and that love can be a powerful motivator for personal growth.

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What is the theme of "A Retrieved Reformation"?

The theme of "A Retrieved Reformation" can probably be best expressed with the old adage "Honesty is the best policy." When Jimmy Valentine goes to Elmore, Arkansas, he is only planning to set up a business as a "front" from which he can travel to nearby towns and commit his safecracking jobs. However, he sees Annabel Adams and falls in love with her at first sight.

A young lady crossed the street, passed him at the corner and entered a door over which was the sign “The Elmore Bank.” Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgot what he was, and became another man. 

She is a pure, innocent small-town girl, and he can't hope to win her love unless he goes straight. So he devotes himself to his shoe business and finds that he can be just as successful as an honest man as he was as a criminal. But the advantages of being honest are that he can have a beautiful wife, a family, a home, a circle of respectable friends, and peace of mind. As a criminal he always has to be looking over his shoulder, so to speak. He can never stay in the same place. He is always more or less on the lam. "A rolling stone gathers no moss." Furthermore, he is finding it harder to stay out of jail and finding it harder to get out of jail once he is in. He can see that he is in danger of building a long rap sheet as a career criminal, which would make him a prime suspect any time a big bank burglary was performed. He has pulled three jobs since being released from prison at the beginning of the story, and already his nemesis Ben Price is on his trail. So Jimmy decides to go straight. He expresses O. Henry's moral for this story in a letter he writes to a pal to whom he plans to give his kit of custom-made safecracking tools.

Say, Billy, I've quit the old business—a year ago. I've got a nice store. I'm making an honest living, and I'm going to marry the finest girl on earth two weeks from now. It's the only life, Billy—the straight one. I wouldn't touch a dollar of another man's money now for a million. 

It might be contended that the moral of the story is something like: The love of a good woman can inspire a man. It is true that Jimmy was inspired to change by Annabel. But he had to find out for himself that he could succeed as an honest businessman and that an honest way of life was far more satisfying in every respect than being a flashy, notorious, lone-wolf criminal. Honesty is the best policy. As he tells Billy in his letter, "It's the only life." It really is.

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What does the title "A Retrieved Reformation" mean?

Jimmy Valentine's reformation is retrieved three times.

When Jimmy Valentine receives his pardon from the governor of the state after serving only ten months of a four-year sentence, the warden urges Jimmy to reform:

"Brace up, and make a man of yourself. You're not a bad man at heart. Stop cracking safes, and live straight." 

Jimmy contradicts the warden, "Why, I never cracked a safe in my life." The next day as Jimmy is released, he is handed a railroad ticket and a five-dollar bill with the expectation of the law "to rehabilitate himself in good citizenship and prosperity." 
But, Jimmy quickly returns by rail to the town and the room in which he was arrested by the eminent detective, Ben Price. There behind a panel in the wall, Jimmy retrieves only his fine set of burglar's tools, and his first reformation is canceled within a week with a safe-burglary in Richmond, Indiana. Other burglaries follow this one, and Jimmy has "resumed business," as Ben Price notes.

However, one afternoon Jimmy arrives in the small town of Elmore, Arkansas, and there Jimmy sees a lovely young lady as she crosses before him and enters the Elmore bank; he falls in love. Jimmy dallies in the street, asking a boy questions about the town. Then, when the young lady walks out of the bank, Jimmy learns that she is Annabel Adams, daughter of the owner of the bank.
 
Jimmy Valentine's second reformation has begun. He registers at the Planters' Hotel as Ralph D. Spencer. Then, Jimmy talks with the clerk, telling him he is looking for a location for his shoe business. After this, he decides to look over the town.

Mr. Ralph Spencer, the phoenix that arose from Jimmy Valentine's ashes--ashes left by the flame of a sudden and alternative attack of love--remained in Elmore and prospered. He opened a shoe-store and secured a good run of trade.

After a year goes by, Ralph is a respected member of the community; he is engaged to Annabel Adams, and he is well-received into the Adams family. Finally, Jimmy decides to take his safe-cracking tools to a friend in Little Rock, writing his "old pal" that he has "quit the old business" and will not do another "crooked thing for the whole world."

Certainly, Jimmy's reformation seems complete as he carries the suitcase full of tools toward the train station. However, he is delayed by the Adams family that heads downtown to the bank and Ralph is swept away with the rest. Unfortunately, nine-year-old May shuts Agatha into the vault, closing it as she has seen her grandfather do. It is in the following moments of crisis that Jimmy's second reformation is lost. For, his lovely fiancée begs him to do something to save Agatha.

With an odd look in his eyes and a meek smile, Ralph looks at Annabel and asks her for the rose she wears on her dress. As he stuffs it into his pocket, "Ralph D. Spencer passed away and Jimmy Valentine took his place." His reformation is ended as Jimmy breaks into the safe and Agatha is saved. With calm resignation, Jimmy takes his coat which he has removed while working and puts it on; as he walks outside, he hears a voice calling "Ralph." But, waiting by the bank door is Ben Price.

"Hello, Ben!....Got around at last have you? Well, let's go. I don't know that it makes much difference, now."
And then Ben Price acted rather strangely.
"Guess you're mistaken, Mr. Spencer," he said. "Don't believe I recognize you....

As Ben Price turns and walks away, Jimmy Valentine retrieves his reformation a third time.

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What is the explanation of the story "A Retrieved Reformation"?

"A Retrieved Reformation" exemplifies O. Henry's credo that there is poetic justice in the world, a world that he romanticizes with characters who are inherently good despite their pasts.

Jimmy Valentine, a safe cracker is given a pardon by the governor of the state and released from prison. Before he ventures forth into society, the warden gives Jimmy a cigar and tells him,"Stop cracking safes, and live a straight life." However, once released, Jimmy immediately returns to his nefarious activities; that is, until he falls in love with Annabel Adams, whose father owns the bank in the little town of Elmore, Arkansas. For, love effects a rehabilitation of Jimmy that no amount of time in prison ever could. He decides to give his "tools" to a friend, telling him, 

I've quit the old business-a year ago. I've got a nice store. I'm making an honest living, and I'm going to marry the finest girl on earth two weeks from now....

However, in a twist of fate, Ben Price, a law enforcement officer who has followed Valentine's career and methods of burglaries, notices the unique pattern of Valentine on these burglaries. Consequently, he travels to Elmore because he learns that the bank is putting in a new safe. Waiting in the bank for Jimmy Valentine, Ben Price witnesses a phenomenal incident: the former safe-cracker, after looking at his fiancee poignantly, opens the new vault and saves a child from suffocation. 

Because of his heroics, Jimmy Valentine, alias Ralph D. Spencer, receives poetic justice and has a "retrieved reformation." For, Ben Price feigns lack of recognition of the ex-convict and lets him pass into his new, reformed life. 

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