The Ransom Of Red Chief Summary

Analysis of a Humorous Text
“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.
Without a doubt, considering the story’s humorous situations, the story appears to symbolize a low level entertainment. Although the plot concentrates on the characterization of the characters, the story centralizes more on its series of events. Humor is shown as an amusing situation when Sam questions the boy if he wants to go back home. Shaken up, the agitated boy, Ebenezer exclaims, “I don’t have any fun at home… You won’t take me back home again, will you?’” (Henry, 1). The reader can interpret that the boy, or Red Chief, projects his voice and tone to emphasize that he is not interested in going home. The words “you won’t take me back”, signifies of how the

kidnap victim wants to stay kidnapped, ruining the plan of his return. In clarification, the story creates amusing situations with irony, elucidating the fact that the story portrays low comedy.
Furthermore, Henry supports his low level comics with the Element of Humor.

Indeed, with his humorous situations, the story contains the element of humor: comical situations. To illustrate, comical situations are demonstrated when Bill had a “series of terrible screams. Red Chief was sitting on Bill’s chest…attempting to cut off the top of Bill’s head…” (2). To the delighted public, Bill’s “series of terrible screams.” would result in laughing since Bill’s shrieking volume and his cowardly actions of fear presents how a diminutive child overpowers him, embarrassing his reputation. To explicate, Henry records hilarious scenes in his composition in order to reveal that his comical situations allude to low level

comedy.
In addition, the witty author uses another of his Element of Humor: hyperbole in his disposal to give reference of low level comedy. For instance, Sam overstates of how difficult it was snatching Ebenezer. The energy drained man exclaims, “That boy put up a fight like a wild animal!” (1). Sam exaggerates his comparison of Ebenezer’s gesture of fighting to a wild animal’s appearance, suggesting that Ebenezer is quite defying, making his readers giggle. In outcome, exaggerating actions help show how the story represents low comedy.
In conclusion: even if well planned, people should plan the unexpected. Another demonstration of the universal truth that proves to be lucid is when Ebenezer, abruptly, twists the plot. Being reckless, Bill suggests the youngster an offer asking, “Hey… would you like to have a bag of candy and a nice ride? … The boy hits Bill directly in the eye…” (Henry, 1). Anticipating, Bill assumes the kidnapping to be simple, luring him to be careless. However the “expectation” backfires when “The boy hits Bill directly in the eye…" (1).With the plot twisted, surely the populace would guffaw. In the end, O. Henry communicates the universal truth remarkably vaguely by covering the truth with blankets of common universal truths.