Comedic NewView in O’Henry’s Story, “The Ransom of Red Chief”
(William Sydney Porter) O. Henry’s short story, The Ransom of Red Chief, is a classic comedic short story, with the author’s trademark twist at the end. A twist? Could that possibly mean a NewView? Could that mean our OldView expectations of a value were Reversed, or Added to, or Subtracted from, or Substituted, or Rearranged? Or some combination of any/all of those? If your’re in the mood for writing essays about this side-splitting short story, stay tuned—–
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
1-OldView strong value statement, early on
“Bill and me figured that Ebenezer would melt down for a ransom of two thousand dollars to a cent. But wait till I tell you . . . That boy put up a fight like a welter-weight cinnamon bear; but, at last, we got him down in the bottom of the buggy and drove away.”
The OldView, here, is clearly about expecting the boy’s father to readily pay two thousand dollars of ransom for his dear little boy. The kidnappers were also expecting to have to fight to keep the boy under control and hidden, as the struggle with him in the “buggy” suggests.
2-OldView supports/undercuts, in middle
Descriptions.
“Red Chief,” says I to the kid, “would you like to go home?” “Aw, what for?” says he. “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?” “Not right away,” says I. “We’ll stay here in the cave a while.” “All right!” says he. “That’ll be fine. I never had such fun in all my life.”
There’s no struggle to keep the boy under control and hidden: He likes camping out with his desperado kidnappers. This reversal of expectation remains constant and undercuts the original expectation about having to work to keep him hidden and under control, a normal expectation that we all share (OldView) about kidnapping.
Conflicts & Resolutions.
“Ain’t it awful, Sam? Do you think anybody will pay out money to get a little imp like that back home?” “Sure,” said I. “A rowdy kid like that is just the kind that parents dote on.”
Bill’s expectations of getting a ransom for Red Chief begin to waver, due to his conflict with the boy being too rough on him, too much to handle, while Sam’s expectations are unchanged and steady, in conflict with Bill’s desires.
After Red Chief hits Bill in the head with a rock from a slingshot, this dialogue takes place concerning conflict with the boy’s behavior:
“If you don’t behave,” says I [Sam], “I’ll take you straight home. Now, are you going to be good, or not?” “I was only funning,” says he sullenly. “I didn’t mean to hurt Old Hank [Bill]. But what did he hit me for? I’ll behave, Snake-eye, if you won’t send me home, and if you’ll let me play the Black Scout to-day.” “. . . Now, you come in and make friends with him and say you are sorry for hurting him, or home you go, at once.”
The conflict has turned into trying to keep the kid from hurting Bill too much before they get the ransom money. And this is, of course, a comedy of a conflict, since we all have this reverse picture in our minds that kidnap victims are scared of their kidnappers, not the other way around. So the conflicts in this story constantly undercut common OldView expectations about kidnapping.
3-NewView Reversal, at end
The confidence that the two kidnappers have at the beginning that they will get two thousand dollars for their efforts is totally reversed at the end. In fact, they end up paying the father to take Red Chief back, to take him off their hands. Their paying the ransom is a complete reversal of their original plans and expec-tations of actually receiving a ransom payment.
It doesn’t matter that we notice Bill’s attitude slipping in that direction as Red Chief continues to abuse him, incident after incident. It’s still amusing to experience the full NewView Reversal as we visualize the “two desperate [dangerous?!] men” fleeing at top speed away from Red Chief at the end, a mere boy, their kidnap victim, who has treated them far more viciously than they treated him.
How much more of a NewView Reversal could this comedy of a short story be?
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