![]() ![]() ![]() Furthermore, the kidnapping unfolds from the perspective of the kidnappers, so the reader is invited to identify with the "wrong" side of the kidnapping. ![]() When Sam and Bill first meet Johnny, he is “throwing rocks at a kitten,” which primes readers not to feel too sorry for him as he is kidnapped. In fact, it’s not even the story’s first act of violence. Henry is clear that the kidnapping is not the story’s defining act of violence. In this way, the story’s real crime isn’t kidnapping or Johnny’s violence towards his captors-it’s the characters’ inability to empathize with and care for one another, which is what leads to violence in the first place.įrom the beginning, O. Henry depicts him as a sympathetic character-his behavior stems from his loneliness and, in particular, his father’s cruelty towards him, so he (much like Sam and Bill) seems more pathetic than evil. However, as soon as Sam and Bill lay eyes on Johnny, his violence towards them-both physical and verbal-eclipses the violence of the kidnapping, which actually seems haphazard and comedic rather than cruel. In “The Ransom of Red Chief,” two small-time crooks named Sam and Bill conspire to kidnap young Johnny Dorset and hold him until his wealthy father pays a ransom. ![]()
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