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The Ransom of Red Chief

by O. Henry

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Discussion Topic

O. Henry's use of suspense and unexpected twists in "The Ransom of Red Chief."

Summary:

O. Henry skillfully uses suspense and unexpected twists in "The Ransom of Red Chief" by subverting the typical kidnapping narrative. Instead of the kidnappers being in control, the boy they capture terrorizes them, leading to an ironic and humorous twist where the kidnappers end up paying the boy’s father to take him back.

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How does "The Ransom of Red Chief" illustrate O.Henry's knack for unexpected twists?

In terms of plot twists and turns, "The Ransom of Red Chief" begins with an unexpected narrator: a man who confesses to being the kidnapper of a child. The person speaking would generally not be thought of as a character for whom sympathy could be built, but in a humorous way, that is exactly what happens. Another way to look at it could be that criminals don't often get the punishment people think that they deserve, and yet the perpetrators in this crime do, in a wholly unexpected way.

The ten-year-old boy who is kidnapped from one of the town of Summit's most prominent citizens is described as having "bas-relief freckles, and hair the colour of the cover of the magazine you buy at the news-stand," but quickly demonstrates pugnacious behavior that belies his all-American appearance.

The most prominent plot twist is that the father of the boy...

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is not eager for his return; he is such a handful that the kidnappers have to pay the boy's father to take him off their hands.

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Most aspects of the story are not what you would expect upon first reading of the text. Consider:

The story is set in and around the town of Summit - a term that would usually be applied to the peak of a mountain, but this town is flat.

Johnny, the ten-year-old boy who is the kidnapping victim, becomes the person in charge, terrorizing his kidnappers with his constant talk and activity and physical assaults against them.

Johnny's father not only refuses to pay the ransom for his son's release but succeeds in collecting a payment from Sam and Bill before he agrees to allow Johnny to return home.

Unlike most kidnapping victims who are happy to be released from captivity, Johnny doesn't want to leave the cave and his new playmates and chases after them instead of eagerly returning home.

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In "The Ransom of Red Chief," how does O. Henry create suspense?

From the opening sentences of the story, the narrator's conversational tone and multiple repetitions of "wait till I tell you" create an intimacy that makes readers feel invested in hearing about what happened, knowing that he has been involved in a kidnapping. Readers understand that something unexpected happened in the course of the kidnapping since the narrator is so eager to get his story across. Because readers don't know if the kidnappers were arrested or somehow failed to acquire the ransom money, they are intrigued by the opening words: "It looked like a good thing." It is obvious that the criminal enterprise didn't go as planned.

The "everyman" effect of the narrator's manner of speaking signals that the person telling the story is not a hardboiled villain whose story will be upsetting. O. Henry successfully creates excitement and anticipation of the unraveling of the plot without the attendant anxiety that could be stirred up by a darker story.

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O. Henry creates suspense in "The Ransom of Red Chief" through the narrator's words and the actions within the story. In the beginning, we find out that these two men are going to kidnap a boy to fund some new illegal venture they have planned. We wonder, "Will they get away with it?" That's suspense. Later, we find out Johnny, a.k.a. "Red Chief" is nothing at all like what the men, Sam and Bill, thought he would be. After Red Chief nearly takes Bill's scalp, we wonder if he is going to follow through on his threat to broil Sam "at the stake at the rising of the sun."  (Henry 4) The feeling that we cannot wait to get to the next part of the story is suspense. Soon we find ourselves wondering if these poor guys are ever going to be able to rid themselves of the mischievous boy when his father turns the tables on them by demanding they pay him to take Red Chief back!

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