Life is not always what a person expects it to be. O’Henry realizes this and incorporates it into his stories The Ransom of Red Chief and The Gift of the Magi. Guy de Maupassant also incorporates this theme in his story The Necklace. Unexpected things happen to everyone; the characters from these stories deal with it by ignoring it, accepting it, or facing it head on. One of O’Henry’s stories is The Ransom of Red Chief. It has several twists and unexpected situations. They needed money, so they kidnap Red Chief, a rich man’s son. The first line in the story, “It looked like a good idea; but wait till I tell you,” foreshadows the ultimate failure of their plan. Sam and Bill are irritated by Red Chief’s behavior. Bill is harassed by the boy so much that he tells Sam to lower the ransom on him, “It ain’t human for anybody to give up two thousand dollars for that forty-pound chunk of freckled wildcat.” Originally, they plan for Red Chief’s father to pay them for his son’s return, but Red Chief is so impudent that they end up paying just …show more content…
This story is about Matilda and her husband. Matilda receives an invitation to attend to a party, but she has no jewelry to wear, so she borrows one from a rich friend. Unfortunately, Matilda loses the necklace at the party and has to buy a new one worth thirty-five thousand francs. She works for years to repay all the money she borrowed, but when she finally gets all the money, she finds out the necklace was worth “No more than five hundred francs.” This story has two unexpected twists in it: she loses the necklace and she works for years to pay it off, only to find out it is less than one sixth of what she paid. How Matilda deals with finding out the price is left to the reader’s imagination, but it shows that when Matilda loses the necklace she deals with it relatively calmly, borrowing money to buy a new one and later working for years to pay it
In the Movie, “Ransom of Red Chief”, and in the book, there are some similarities and some differences. The first difference was Red Chief, or better known as Johnny. In the movie he was a small, blonde headed little boy, but in the story he was a small, red headed little boy with a bunch of freckles. In addition to that in the movie the kidnappers, bill and Sam, took red chief to the woods and set up camp, but in the book it states that they, bill, Sam, and red chief, slept in a cave and camped there. Last but not least was red chief. In the movie red chief also stole bill and Sam’s car and he also put a snake in bill’s bed, but in the story he did neither of those things.
“It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you,”(Henry, pg.1) about this comedic story that identifies two moronic characters and one holy terror of a child, who they thought they could handle. O. Henry’s short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” is a high level of comedy that uses allusion and irony to convey the idea that you must be wise before pursuing an act, because it may come back to bite you.
Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can 't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story”(52). O’Brien’s character, searches for an emotional home, the feeling that he had as a young boy in love, knowing he will never experience. O 'Brien feels deprived of his youth and also feels a sense of betrayal of being forced by his community to be in the war. Each location in “The Things They Carried”, adds onto the detachment from reality for each character. “Love”(31), “The Man I Killed”(82), and “The Lives of the Dead”(153), creates the reality of “You lose some, you win some”(72). O’Brien and Cross experience this when Cross’s love for Martha is not returned, “when he told her he still loved her, she kept walking and didn 't answer and then after several minutes looked at her wristwatch and said it was getting late”(32), while O’Brien’s love for Linda is returned while she teaches him about death. This later made him realize his love “was unreal” to see Linda’s body in the
In the short story, “Ransom Of Red Chief”,by William Sydney Porter, Sam, the narrator, and Bill, his partner, decided to kidnap the child of Ebenezer Dorset because Ebenezer looked rich and they thought that they could make some good money off of him, and the whole town would not be able to find them. The third paragraph states, “We knew that summit couldn’t get after us with anything stronger than constables and maybe some lacksided bloodhounds and a diatribe or two in the Weekly Farmers Budget,” (Porter, Paragraph 3). Summit is a small town in Alabama. Bill and Sam knew that Summit could not track them with anything that would be able to find them. Since they did not have anything that could find them, they decided to hit that town. They
“Just then, I heard a heavy sound and a deep breath from Bill. A rock the size of an egg had hit him just behind his left ear.” (pg 3/3)This story is about kidnappers that need a little extra cash for an illegal land deal. So, they decided to kidnap a boy and send a ransom note, but their little plan gets turned back on them. O. Henry's short story, ‘The Ransom of Red Chief,' is a low-level comedy that uses comic situations and hyperboles to convey the idea that life will not always give you the easy way out.
Everyone has suffered the consequences for their actions. In “the Ransom of the Red Chief” by O. Henry, he tells a story of two kidnappers, Bill and Sam and they kidnap Jonny who is so much of a hand full instead receive money from a ransom they payed money for the boy to too return home. O. Henry brings to light an external conflicted between Bill and Jonny therefor resulting in an unexpected ending drawn out with situational irony, of which the characters did not foresee the unexpected consequence of their actions.
You never know what two desperate men would do to get some money… even if it means kidnapping a psychotic ten-year-old who’s looking for a good time. When Sam and Bill, two ‘criminals’, kidnap young Johnny Dorset for ransom money, they are met with the most unexpected scenario and end up paying for this kid to leave them. “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry is a hilarious high level tall tale that uses ironic situations and clever hyperboles to show that sometimes your original ideas don’t always go according to plan.
After driving down the highway for half an hour, Alexis spotted a truck that resembled the description the man from the factory gave him. Alexis pulled over to where the truck was parked. When looking around the truck for clues, Alexis spotted a hidden trail behind nearby bushes. Alexis grabbed his gun and flashlight and carefully scouted through the bushes. There were two tracks of fresh foot prints on the trail. After trekking through the bushes for ten minutes, he came to a wide clearing that had a large wood building in the middle.
The Ransom of Red Chief is about two criminals who kidnap a child for a ransom. Instead of working for a living, the two thieves are notorious for stealing money and other valuables. After kidnapping a boy, the two thieves have a very difficult time keeping him under control. The boy constantly inflicts physical harm to his captors and causes them to experience mental strife. In the end, the thieves end up paying the father of the troublesome boy a hefty price in order to get rid of him.
In “The Necklace” Madame Loisel, and her husband were invited to a gorgeous ball. Being to poor, but eager to fit in Madame Loisel went to jeweler. Getting lent a beautiful necklace she went to the ball, only to discover that she has lost it when the night ends. Believing the necklace was expensive Madame Loisel was forced to go from poor, to very poor. Working was something she had never done before, but she had to work as many jobs as she could. Ten years went by, and Madame
Several different elements are necessary to create a story. Of all the elements, the conflict is most essential. The conflict connects all pieces of the plot, defines the characters, and drives the story forward. Once a story reaches its climax, the reader should have an emotional connection to the both story and its characters. Not only should emotions be evoked, but a reader should genuinely care about what happens next and the about the end result for the characters. Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” is the perfect example of how a story’s conflict evolved the disposition of its characters.
In the short story “The Necklace”, the main character, Loisel, is a woman who dreams of greater things in her life. She is married to a poor clerk who tries his best to make her happy no matter what. In an attempt to try to bring happiness to his wife, he manages to get two invitations to a very classy ball, but even in light of this Loisel is still unhappy. Even when she gets a new dress she is still unhappy. This lasts until her husband suggests she borrows some jewelry from a friend, and upon doing so she is finally happy. Once the ball is over, and they reach home, Loisel has the horrible realization that she has lost the necklace, and after ten years of hard labor and suffering, they pay off debts incurred to get a replacement. The central idea of this story is how something small can have a life changing effect on our and others life’s. This idea is presented through internal and external conflicts, third person omniscient point of view, and the round-dynamic character of Loisel. The third person limited omniscient point-of-view is prevalent throughout this short story in the way that the author lets the reader only see into the main character’s thoughts. Loisel is revealed to the reader as being unhappy with her life and wishing for fancier things. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.” (de Maupassant 887) When her husband tries to fancy things up, “she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry which peopled the walls…” (de Maupassant 887) As the story goes on her point of view changes, as she “now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover all of a sudden, with heroism.” (de Maupassant 891) Having the accountability to know that the “dreadful debt must be paid.” (de Maupassant 891 ) This point-of-view is used to help the reader gain more insight to how Loisel’s whole mindset is changed throughout her struggle to pay off their debts. Maupassant only reveals the thoughts and feelings of these this main character leaving all the others as flat characters. Loisel is a round-dynamic character in that Maupassant shows how she thought she was born in the wrong “station”. “She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station.
Opportunity presents itself in various ways. Sometimes, it accompanies adversity; sometimes, it occurs amid life's brightest moments. Although working through adversity may be difficult, doing so may provide an individual with chances to grow, to gain responsibility, and to improve self-esteem. Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" remarkably demonstrates how misfortune can lead to the improvement of a human being. Before her misadventure, the protagonist Mme. Loisel is a discontented homemaker with little self-confidence; through her adverse experiences, however, she learns to accept her circumstances, thereby improving her character.
The Necklace also displays distinctive realism in the use of socioeconomic influences which are essential to the plot. The major conflict in the story would be absent and the theme would not be obtainable without Mathilde Loisel’s insecurity about her own socioeconomic reputation. An example of Loisel’s self-deprivation nature is presented when she realizes she does not have a necklace, she says “I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party” (Maupassant, sec. 3). Another example of the self-conflict caused by social pressure is Loisel’s immediate attempt to replace the necklace and her reluctance to speak to her friend Madame Forestier about the necklace for ten whole years. If she were not conflicted by societal pressures she might have avoided the whole situation altogether. The Necklace establishes a realistic difference in value between the necklaces and proposed clothing. Her husband proposes flowers which were valued 10 franks so in any case if she had chosen the flowers there would have been an insignificant economic loss. Her decision not to tell her friend about the necklace ends up costing her seven times the worth of the original. The roses symbolize the simpler things in life to the theme of the story. Mathilde Loisel’s withered appearance at the end
The moral of Guy de Maupassant’s story “The Necklace” seems to be suggested by the line, “What would have happened if Mathilde had not lost the necklace?” If Mathilde had not lost the necklace, or in fact, even asked to borrow the necklace, she and Mr. Loisel would not of been in debt ten long years. Because Mathilde had to borrow the necklace to make herself and others like her better her and Mr. Loisel’s economic situation had become worse than it already was. I think that the moral of the story is that people need to be happy with what they have and not be so greedy.