The Ransom of Red Chief

This will be my last post of the semester. I think I've already covered all of the required blogs, but I wanted to mention The Ransom of Red Chief as it was one of my favorite readings of the semester. O. Henry's writing is clear and concise, so I was able to read through the story quickly without any struggle. More importantly, I was able to imagine the entire scenario, especially when the boy rides Sam for ninety miles. I was a huge fan of Cowboys and Indians as a child, which is why this story resonates with me, although I don't consider myself as big of a pest as this boy. O. Henry sets up a backwards situation that is very similar to the Home Alone movies. Eventually the "bad guy" becomes the one in need.

O. Henry set the story up for a standard ending. Logically, I was expecting the kidnappers to receive ransom for the child. It threw me off, and made me laugh, when the child turned out to be such a pest that the kidnappers paid his parents to take him back. I guess that's what they deserve, right? In fact, they were so relieved to get him off their hands that they ran away from town. The word cognitive shift has been thrown around quite often throughout the semester, and rightly so. It seems that humorists of all sorts rely on an incongruity to produce laughter. In keeping with that theme, O. Henry threw me for a loop. The Ransom of Red Chief also supported the superiority theory. In other words, the story was funny because I didn’t have to handle the child and I wasn't the one paying ransom.

I've enjoyed looking back at the readings throughout the semester and applying the theories espoused by John Morreall. Furthermore, the Humor Around the World presentations have given me a deeper world view, enabling me to further interpret the humor of each reading.