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The ransom of red chief theme of the story
The greatest irony in "The Ransom of the Red Chief
The ransom of red chief theme of the story
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“The Ransom of Red Chief” by O.Henry is an excessively entertaining story of two con men, Bill & Sam, who kidnap Johnny, son of a wealthy man in a small town, Alabama. The author, O. Henry surprises the readers using many techniques such as tone, foreshadowing & simile, to make this story a treat for readers of all ages. Bill & Sam are both being treated as if they’re the one’s being kidnapped, Johnny’s in charge. “That boy put up a fight like a welterweight cinnamon bear, but at last we got him down in the bottom of the buggy & drove away”(Henry 68). You’d normally think of the kidnapper hurting the child but johnny’s in control of Bill & Sam, he’s putting up a fight like a small American bear. Before Bill & Sam took Johnny you could already
tell he was going to cause trouble. “Hey little boy!” says Bill, would you like a bag of candy and a nice ride?” The boy catches BIll neatly in the eye with a piece of brick”(Henry 68). This Foreshadows Johnny is a crazy child and both Bill and Sam will get headaches. Also, how much Bill & Sam will suffer because already this child is uncivilized. Bill & Sam are ready to give Johnny back to his father even if it means paying. “What’s two hundred and fifty dollars after all? We’ve got the money one more night and this kid will send me to s bed in Bedlam. Besides being a through gentleman, I think Mr.Dorset is spendthrift for making us such a liberal offer. You ain’t going to let the chance go, are you?”(Bill 73). This represents the author’s humorous tone because Bill and Sam both are tired of Johnny and his crazy behavior, sending him home even though they have to pay Ebenezer two hundred and fifty.
Characters: Buck is one of the three people who are kidnapping the children. He is tempered easily. He doesn’t really care for others much. Rita is Buck’s wife. She is not very pretty and gets drug into schemes by Buck. She feels he will leave her if she doesn’t follow directions. Juan is the other kidnapper who does more of the dirty work. He is the one who calls the parents for the money. He’s the one who shot the bus driver. Glenn is one of the boys who were kidnapped. He’s very popular and has friends and thinks that nobody dislikes him. He’s handsome and very athletic. Glenn’s brother Bruce is into more technology stuff. He is not very handsome and looks up to his brother a lot. He is physically challenged because his body is underdeveloped. Dexter doesn’t have a mother or father. He lives with his bachelor uncle who’s always away on business trips. He is liked fairly well. He is happy with his life. Jesse is new to everyone. She moves around the world quite a lot. She’s very mature compared to the others. Marianne has two brothers. Her parents are divorced and her mother remarried another man. She thinks that her real dad still loves her and will rescue her and doesn’t care much for her new father.
“What you pawn I will redeem” is a story written by Sherman Alexie. The story takes place in Seattle, Washington and follows the homeless native american named Jackson Jackson on his journey to obtain his grandmothers regalia that was stolen 50 years ago. He finds the regalia in a pawnshop and spends the rest of the story doing many different things in attempt to make enough money so that he can purchase it back. Throughout the story the author uses Jacksons humor and like-ability to do impressive job of tricking the reader into feeling compassion for Jackson. But when you take a deeper you look into the story, it reveals that in the end Jackson is just a tricky homeless alcoholic.
In Chapter 1 of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain, the role of inequality is emphasized heavily. The quote on page 8, paragraph 2 shows this. The quote is “They and the women, as a rule, wore a coarse tow-linen robe that came well below the knee, and a rude sort of sandals, and many wore an iron collar. The small boys and girls were always naked; but nobody seemed to know it.” (Twain PG 8). The Yankee seems to be looking down on the people around him, thinking he is better than they are. The role of inequality is shown throughout the book.
Sherman Alexie writes in his story, What You Pawn I Will Redeem about a homeless Salish Indian named Jackson Jackson. Alexie takes readers on Jackson’s journey to acquire enough money to purchase back his grandmother’s stolen powwow regalia. Throughout the story, Jackson’s relationships with other charters ultimately define his own character. Alexie, a well know Native American author tells an all too common tale of poverty and substance abuse in the Native American community through his character Jackson. The major character flaw of Jackson is his kindness, which ultimately becomes his greatest asset when fate allows him to purchase back his grandmother’s powwow regalia from a pawn broker for only five dollars.
Many would agree that although there are many stories about heroes, they all seem similar in some way. Joseph Campbell wrote many books about this theory of a "hero cycle" that every hero story follows. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this pattern is clearly exemplified and it shows the numerous steps in Joseph Campbell's idea of the hero cycle.
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN AUTHOR’S SKETCH Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. When Samuel Clemens was four years old, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he spent his childhood. Clemens first approach to literature was through typesetting for a newspaper in 1851. At the time Orion, his brother, was a newspaper publisher in Hannibal. From 1857 until 1861, he served as the pilot of a riverboat on the Mississippi River.
In O Henry's short stories, The Gift of Magi, After Twenty Years, and The Ransom of Red Chief, there are many commonalities throughout the texts. Among the many commonalities, one of the strongest was that all of them ended with a plot twist. This writing pattern of O Henry’s can be seen in The Gift of Magi when Della and Jim were exchanging Christmas gifts, but it definitely was a surprise for them when they saw what the other had gotten them. The pattern can also be witnessed in After Twenty Years when you find that Bob’s success didn't come from a regular job, and Bob and Jimmy’s reconnection after twenty years apart didn't go as planned. A final story where this pattern can be witnessed is in The Ransom of Red Chief, where the kidnapping
Although only slightly factual in historical setting, the legends of Robin Hood have captivated the imaginations of young and old alike through the charming stories concerning the characters of Sherwood Forest.
Cultural appropriation involves the adoption of another culture’s practices in a manner that undermines the practices’ significance and reduces it to something that would be prevalent throughout history. The problem lies not in borrowing aspects of a culture; it lies in the fact that most people who borrow aspects of a culture skew the original version. John Henry's ballads have been transformed, transcribed and flipped around for generations. Most of these ballads have been seen as cultural appropriation and have changed the legacy behind his story. The John Henry story has changed to fit different cultural backgrounds and different situations. White Southern millworkers, listening to country recordings of the ballads that never mentioned
In O. Henry’s story, The Ransom of Red Chief, two men experience an unexpected turn of events. Bill and Sam, two criminals, are in desperate need of money to complete an illegal real estate deal. For this reason, these two men kidnap Johnny, the son of a wealthy man, to attempt to achieve the money they need. This short story is a high level of comedy that uses comic language and comic situations to convey the idea that one has to pay for the consequences of their crimes. Although Sam and Bill successfully captured Johnny, things seemed to be going downhill for them when they hideout in a cave with the boy. At first, Johnny started out by hurting Bill both physically and emotionally by playing Indian. During this time, Johnny “…seemed to
The act of kidnapping is a very dark subject, usually the child is molested/killed, but in “The Ransom of Red Chief” O’Henry finds a way to transform the topic into comedy. Most kidnapped children would sit in the corner and cry, whereas Red Chief takes control of the situation and treats it like a game, playing the war chief who had captured “Old Hank” and attempts to scalp him the next day, for which most kidnappers would kill the child at that point, but Bill and Sam (the kidnappers of Red chief) just don’t have it in them to kill a 10 year old, regardless of the Red Chief’s personality, and the situation is reversed around them. Although these are two hardened criminals, who in most situations would kill/dismember the child, Red Chief takes control of the situation and in a way, they become the kidnapped because of the lack of awareness of the challenge of the ransom.
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.
It was hazy and frigid outside this seaport town. The aroma of fish was in the air. There were crashes of waves hitting the docks and rocking sailboats reciprocating in the water. Sailors were departing and arriving from this old town.
“Hey… would you like to have a bag of candy and a nice ride?’…The boy hits Bill directly in the eye with a piece of rock.” (1). In the tale, “The Ransom of Red Chief”, the story contains a plot where a duo of foolish kidnappers devises a plan to abduct a 10-year old boy, Ebenezer. However, the plan backfires when the child indicates that it is exceedingly arduous for him to collaborate. Author Henry’s novelette “The Ransom of Red Chief”, is a low level comedy that applies comic situations and hyperbole to convey the idea that people should plan for the unexpected.
wanted to be wounded like them so he could have his own "Red Badge of