Red Chief Theme

“He put a red-hot boiled potato down my back,” explained Bill, “and then mashed it with his foot." For Bill, who is one of the characters in the story, "The Ransom of Red Chief," written by O. Henry, this is undoubtedly a very unpleasant experience which caused him excruciating pain. In the story, the main character, Sam(also known as Snake-eye), and and his partner Bill Driscoll, need two thousand dollars to pull off a scam in Western Illinois, they decide to kidnap ten year-old Johnny Dorset(“Red Chief”) and demand two thousand dollars for his safe return to his father, Ebenezer Dorset. The boy is quite the terror and he proves to be almost out of control, having no empathy, and playing absurd, preposterous, and ludicrous pranks. When the …show more content…
He supports the theme because there are many unpleasant consequences that fall on him as a direct result of his greed. For example, he is terrorized multiple times by the boy. In one particular situation the boy gets a hold of the sharp knife that they use for slicing bacon and, “with one hand twined in Bill’s hair…was industriously and realistically trying to take Bill’s scalp.” This is surely a direct consequence of Bill’s greed, as the sole reason the boy is with them was that they were the ones who kidnapped him. Along with the scalping, the boy also uses his sling to plug Bill in the noggin with a “niggerhead rock the size of an egg...just behind his left ear.” Subsequently, Bill is knocked out and he proceeds to fall “in the fire across the frying pan of hot water for washing the dishes.” This is undoubtedly quite painful for him when he wakes up. Surely one would think that was the limit of the boys shenanigans, but sadly, it is not. In addition to the incidents already mentioned, more unpleasant consequences befall Bill when him and the boy play a game. The object of the game is that the boy is a “Black Scout” who is riding to the stockade to warn the settlers that the Indians’ are coming. Upon Sam’s return to the camp, he finds it empty, After Sam waits a spell, Bill comes back utterly dejected, he tells Sam that he “was subjugated to such …show more content…
After the two men kidnap the boy, several unpleasant things befall to him in the story that would never have taken place but for the greed of the two men. For example, when Johnny puts the boiled potato down Bills back and mashes it with his foot, Bill proceeds to “boxed[box] his ears.” Of course, it was Johnny who provoked the consequence, however, he would not even have been in the vicinity if not for the two men kidnapping him in their greed. In addition to that incident, there are multiple other consequences that befell Johnny as a result of Sam and Bill’s greed. Such an incident happened after Johnny plugged Bill in the head with the stone from his sling. After he did this, Sam “I went out and caught that boy and shook him until his freckles rattled.” and to this Johnny said that he “was only funning,” that he “didn’t mean to hurt Old Hank. But what did he hit me for?” Another consequence of Bill and Sam’s greed that falls on Johnny is when Bill has had enough of him. When Bill has had enough, he “takes him by the neck of his clothes and drags him down the mountain,” and when he shows Johnny the Road the Summit he “kicked him about eight feet nearer there at one kick.” Obviously, this event supports the theme because it would be a very unpleasant consequence for Johnny. Perhaps the worst consequence from Johnny's point of view is an emotional consequence rather than physical. When Johnny found out