29 pages • 58 minutes read
O. HenryThe Ransom of Red Chief
Fiction | Short Story | YA | Published in 1907A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: O. Henry
O. Henry, or William Sydney Porter, was born in 1862 in North Carolina. He remained in the area for 20 years before moving to Texas for health reasons. He bounced around between jobs, and he spent much of his free time drinking and flirting with women. He eloped with 17-year-old Athol Estes in 1887, after which time Porter developed into a more serious family-oriented person. He found work as a cartoonist and illustrator with Texas Land Office, but he left the position in 1891 and accepted a new job as a bank teller with the First National Bank of Austin.
While working as a teller, Porter started his own newspaper, but he failed to make a profit after a year, so he ceased his attempts. He was then fired from his job with the bank after they found $4,000 in accounting discrepancies, and he fled to Honduras to avoid embezzlement charges. However, he returned to Texas in 1897 to care for his dying wife. Once back in the US, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. While in prison, Porter assumed his famous pen name and started writing short stories. He later legally changed his name to O. Henry. His career as a fiction writer declined after 1907, and he died three years later in 1910 (“O. Henry Biography.” Austin History Center, 2023).
The characterization of Sam and Bill in “The Ransom of Red Chief” contains autobiographical elements. Although O. Henry was no career criminal, he was prosecuted for committing financial crimes. Like O. Henry, several characters in his stories have a criminal background or experienced imprisonment. For example, Sam and Bill are con men, just as Jimmy Valentine in “A Retrieved Reformation” is a convicted bank thief. As typical of O. Henry tales, his criminal protagonists face some kind of moral dilemma and display a greater depth of character than originally depicted.
Philosophical Context: Morality
O. Henry, driven by his own experience with crime, often uses ironic or questionable morals in his writing. His protagonists are often criminals or dark and troubled individuals. He manipulates the concepts of right and wrong, which generates empathy toward his unusual protagonists. In “The Guilty Party” (1909), for example, O. Henry shifts the blame from the murdering protagonist, Liz, and argues that Liz’s cold and distant father is guilty for the murder she committed. O. Henry also turns these questionable characters into heroes. For instance, in “The Last Leaf” (1905), the ultimate hero of the tale, Behrman, is an old artist with alcoholism who sacrifices himself to save a young woman.
O. Henry also demonstrates his distaste for capitalism and greed in many of his stories. O. Henry’s “An Unfinished Story” (1905) is narrated from the perspective of a murderer awaiting judgement. When questioned if he belongs with the group of rich men who took advantage of vulnerable young women, the murderer explains that he is not. O. Henry stresses the idea that greed and exploitation are worse than violence and murder. This thematic exploration of Morality and Greed is also present in “The Ransom of Red Chief.” Ebenezer Dorset is the victim of Sam and Bill’s crime, but O. Henry alludes to the idea that Dorset is the underlying antagonist. It is implied that he takes advantage of vulnerable people who cannot afford to pay him, and he would rather risk the death of his son than pay for his safe return. The narrative suggests that Johnny’s violent nature is a result of Dorset’s cold attitude toward the child as well as the cruel manner in which Dorset conducts his business. By manipulating the concepts of right and wrong, O. Henry inspires empathy for criminals Sam and Bill and contempt for their ransom target, Dorset.
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