The Ransom of Red Chief

"The Ransom of Red Chief" By O. Henry

Summary
Bill and Sam need 2,000 dollars to pull off a scam so they decided to plan to kidnap a kid. Bill and Sam kidnap Johnny Dorset aka Red Chief. They then send the Ebenezer Dorset a ransom. Ebenezer Dorset writes back suggesting that they return his son and pay him two hundred and fifty dollars. Sam and Bill decide that the boy is too much to handle so they return Johnny and pay the money.

Character:

Johnny Dorset - he is also known as Red Chief and in this story, Johnny is a miss behaving little boy. He is so misbehaved that he is kidnapped but returned because the kidnappers were not able to handle him

Sam - one of the two kidnappers and the narrator of the story

Bill Driscoll - one of the two kidnappers but he is tormented by Red Chief aka Johnny

Ebenezer Dorset - the father of Johnny aka the Red Chief

Plot Elements:



Exposition - Bill and Sam said that they needed 2,000 dollars to pull off a fraudulent scheme in Western Illinois. So that's why they decided to kidnap the boy Johnny. Bill and Sam kidnap Johnny.


Rising Action - Bill and Sam wrote a ransom note to Ebenezer Dorset the father of Johnny.

Climax - The Ebenezer Dorset writes back telling to the kidnappers that they should return his son Johnny and pay him two hundred and fifty dollars.

Resolution - The kidnappers return Johnny, pay Ebenezer two hundred and fifty dollars, and get out of town very quickly.

Analysis:

In my opinion, Bill was scared of Johnny aka Red Chief because Red Chief treat him really badly. First when they tried to kidnap Red Chief, he threw a piece of rock at Bill. One morning, Bill woke up to Red Chief trying to scalp him, he also hit him with a rock on his ear and he fell into the fire. Overall I think that Bill was really relieved when he saw the letter from Ebenezer Dorset. I feel Bill was happy to pay the two hundred and fifty dollars and get rid of the Red Chief.  These two kidnappers where not really ready to kidnap a kid because  it honestly looks like they had never even baby-sat a kid before and definitely not a bad behaving kid. You usually wouldn't hear that a kid has been kidnapped and then return to the family by the kidnappers.