The Ransom of Red Chief

“It was, as Bill afterward expressed it, ‘during a moment of temporary mental apparition’; but we didn’t figure that out till later.”

This line appears early in the story, and it serves two important functions—it acts as a hook to draw readers in, and it foreshadows later events in the tale. Sam’s first-person narration draws readers in by revealing that the plans go awry without any further clarification. The word choice “apparition” also foreshadows the story’s situational irony in that unexpected events will transpire.

“Bill and me had a joint capital of about six hundred dollars, and we needed just two thousand dollars more to pull off a fraudulent town-lot scheme in Western Illinois with.”

Money is a key symbol and serves as the motive for Sam and Bill’s criminal scheming. They want to gather capital so that they can leave the area and commit a larger and more lucrative crime. This line characterizes the men as deplorable career criminals. However, this view of the cons is challenged as the narrative depicts them more sympathetically and as victims of the Dorsets.

“The father was respectable and tight, a mortgage financier and a stern, upright collection-plate passer and forecloser.”

The characterization of Ebenezer Dorset develops the theme of Morality and Greed. Although Dorset is the supposed sympathetic victim of a kidnapping ransom, he is portrayed as a greedy hypocrite who has no trouble taking advantage of the poor. O. Henry turns the reader against Dorset, creating a sense that he deserves to be a victim of a financial crime as retribution for taking advantage of poor individuals.