Mistake In O. Henry's The Ransom Of Red Chief

In the story “The Ransom of Red Chief”, written by O. Henry, two main characters Bill and Sam kidnapped a young boy. However, their actions turned out to be a mistake. They had originally planned to get the boy, then return him for money. With their hopes, they were trying to gain two thousand dollars from the kidnapping, but unfortunately for them it didn’t go the way they wanted. The ten year old boy, Red Chief, was more than they realized they could handle. Not only was this situation a huge mistake, but the consequences they had to deal with in the end turned out very ironic. To begin, kidnapping the boy was a mistake because Red Chief was very annoying, and even causes Bill and Sam more pain than they could have imagined. From page 15, it says “Red Chief was sitting on Bill’s chest, with one hand twined in Bill’s hair.” In this quote from the book, Red Chief was getting ready to scalp Bill. Red Chief’s actions make both Sam and Bill very fearful of him, now that they see what he can do. Along with this, Red Chief thinks he is just camping, and forces Sam and Bill to play “Indian” with him. Lastly, when Red Chief was originally being kidnapped, he threw a large rock at Bill and hit him behind the ear, making him question the plan. The consequences from the kidnapping were ironic towards the end because, rather than them getting the money, Sam …show more content…
Red Chief was annoying, obnoxious, harmful, hyper-active and energetic, and seemingly just a complete devil. All of these characteristics cause Sam and Bill to realize their mistake after they have already taken him to their tempoary dwelling. Along with the kidnapping mistake, towards the end of the story there are pieces of irony. This includes the loss of the men's money rather than gain, and that even Red Chief’s father wasn’t terribly worried about his own son and was in no hurry to get him back to the safety of his