The Ransom of Red Chief

When kidnappers Sam and Bill receive a response to their ransom letter, they expect Ebenezer will agree to pay $2,000 for the safe return of his son Johnny when, in fact, he does the opposite, demanding that they pay him to return Johnny to him—an example of situational irony. Sam’s shocked response (“Great pirates of Penzance! […] of all the impudent——”) highlights the irony of this moment. He cannot believe that Ebenezer has the nerve to use their own strategy against them.

Bill’s reaction to this letter adds another layer of situational irony to the scene. To readers’ surprise, he does not become indignant as Sam does but, instead, states that he believes Ebenezer’s terms are more than reasonable:

“Sam,” says he, “what’s two hundred and fifty dollars, after all? We’ve got the money. One more night of this kid will send me to a bed in Bedlam. Besides being a thorough gentleman, I think Mr. Dorset is a spendthrift for making us such a liberal offer. You ain’t going to let the chance go, are you?”

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In a key example of situational irony in the story, Johnny ends up enjoying being kidnapped by Sam and Bill rather than wanting to escape or go home to his father. The full extent of his enjoyment of—and comfort with—being criminally abducted comes across in a little monologue he gives while sitting around the fire with Sam and Bill the first night he’s with them:

“I like this fine. I never camped out before; but I had a pet ’possum once, and I was nine last birthday. I hate to go to school. Rats ate up sixteen of Jimmy Talbot’s aunt’s speckled hen’s eggs. Are there any real Indians in these woods? I want some more gravy. Does the trees moving make the wind blow? We had five puppies. What makes your nose so red, Hank?”

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