Jimmy Valentine

Jimmy Valentine used to be the best criminal in the state, until he turned over a new leaf. Jimmy had the best safe-cracking kit there was. He carried the supplies in a suitcase everywhere he went so the tools would be inconspicuous in the public. The story begins with Mr. Valentine when he gets out of jail. He has been there for ten months. Jimmy also is a liar and he is very sarcastic. He lies about robbing a bank to the warden of the prison by saying that he never robbed the bank that the warden was talking about. Jimmy Valentine was dedicated to living a moral life because he moved to a different town, changed his name, and got a normal job away from his “past life”. The first reason Jimmy wanted to live a moral life is that he

Jimmy Valentine was then known as Ralph Spencer. Ralf changed his name to protect his dark past. In the story, it explains how Ralph Spencer “... arose from Jimmy Valentine’s ashes…” Also, Mr. Spencer didn’t want to drag Annabelle into his dilemma of trying to change his life. In “A Retrieved Reformation”, it explains how Ralf looks at Annabelle. It tells of a queer, soft smile. It can be inferred that he was trying to find a way of telling her that he used to be a criminal. Ralf changed his name to try to get a better job. “Yes, there ought to be a good opening in the shoe line.” The quote shown demonstrates that Ralph was thinking outside the criminal world. Ralph didn’t want to be noticed as ‘Jimmy Valentine’ the crook,

Ralph really did want to go into the shoe business. The story says: “There wasn’t an exclusive shoe-store in the place. The dry-goods and general stores handled them.” This quote shows how things were. There were no plain shoe stores; there were just general stores. Also, when Ralph wrote the letter to Ben, he told him that he was done with crime and has moved on to a much calmer life of shoe making. Since Mr. Spencer was getting married, he could have thought he would have gotten offered a better, more paying job because Annabel 's father owned the bank: “Mr. Adam’s future son-in-law was welcome anywhere.” Jimmy made the right choice by getting a regular