Theme Of The Ransom Of Red Chief

A boy gets kidnapped by two men just because of money and greed, the two men don’t even care about the little boy. In the short story a boy gets kidnapped and he beats up the other guys and in the end, they give him back to his dad and then the two men ran away. In the short story, “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O.Henry, depicts the theme that greediness causes consequences. It illustrates the theme because of the two men’s actions, they take certain measures just to be able to get thousands of dollars. These quotes show that these men will do anything to get money, because “That boy put up a fight like a welterweight cinnamon bear; but at last, we got him down in the bottom of the buggy and drove away.” This quote shows that the men take drastic measures just to get money, because they kidnapped an innocent little boy. The father of the boy acts and is, “respectable and tight, a mortgage fancier and a stern, upright collection - plate passer and foreclosure.” Which proves that these men will kidnap and ransom little kids, just to get money from the parents.

The two men just want the ransom money so that they can give the boy back to his father, “Do you think anybody will pay out money to get a little imp like that back home?” The two men can’t understand why anyone would pay money to get the little boy back, because he is rude, mean, and a little trickster. They up the price of money just because the little boy was defending himself, “That will cost the old man an extra $500,” says Bill, climbing over the wheel. This quote proves that the men only want money because, even though the boy threw a rock at the men in defense, and they just said that they would up the price for the old man to be able to get his son