Johnny In The Ransom Of Red Chief

Christian was lost in the woods but made the best of being lost by finding shelter and finding the silver lining. Johnny, the main character in the book “The Ransom of Red Chief”, is kidnapped by two men but tormented the men while having fun. In the book “The Ransom of Red Chief”, O. Henry portrays the theme, one can always make the best of hard times if they work hard and persevere.

Even though Johnny is captured, he says he is Red Chief and torments the kidnappers. According to the text, Johnny claims he is “Red Chief, the terror of the plains[!]”. Johnny plays he is an indian chief rather than begging to go home. He also torments the men while having fun by put[ing] a red-hot tomato down [Bill’s] back”. This shows he is making the best of the situation, while making the men more sick of Johnny. Johnny is only ensuring his escape by doing this because the men dislike

the boy more and more each time he hurts them. The men finally give the boy up, and pay two hundred and fifty dollars, showing they are glad to give the boy back to his family.
Johnny, being a young boy, thinks he is camping and doesn’t want to leave the camp because he likes being away from home. He likes pretending he is Red Chief, and doesn’t want to leave camp, “I don’t have any fun at home. I hate to go to school. I like to camp out.” Johnny likes to pretend he is camping out with the men and pretend he is and indian and doesn’t want to go home. Pretending like this shows he is making the best of being kidnapped. After the two men take the boy home, he “held himself as tight as he could to Bill’s leg.” This shows Johnny doesn’t want to go home and wants to stay with the men.
The two men are repeatedly beat up by Johnny, creating a relationship which affects their decision in letting Johnny go.

The boy creates a bad relationship with the two men. He proves to be a problem because one of the kidnappers say, “this little lamb has gotten on my nerves too.” The two men converse with each other on if they should give the boy back and pay the man or if the man pays them for the boy. Bill, one of the men, asks “Do you think anybody will pay money to get a little imp like that back home?” This proves that the two men are sick of the boy and want to get rid of him. In the end, the two men end up paying Johnny’s father and giving the boy back to him. They then run far away from the boy’s town showing their relationship with the boy is not good. The father says he can hold Johnny for ten minutes and the men run making the best of their time.

Therefore, in the book “Ransom of Red Chief”, Johnny and the two man make the best of their time together. Johnny likes to be away from home and the two men try to get rid of the boy as soon as possible, having being with him for a

day.