The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry (1907)

Mush! Mush!

If you can overlook the blatant racism, "The Ransom of Red Chief" is actually a very humorous and entertaining story. The common argument that an author is a product of their time no longer holds merit and in today's cancel culture, O. Henry would certainly be on the chopping block. In the context of literary history, I feel that it is important to examine, analyze and reflect on the past through a more critical lens rather than jumping at the bit to cancel an author or edit their work just because it does not adhere to some progressive political agenda--that's fascism. The recent censorship of Roald Dahl and re-writing of his many novels comes to mind. Perhaps this is a controversial opinion but if a work offends you, don't read it and move on. As might be evident by the title, indigenous culture is not portrayed in the most flattering light and while this can certainly be viewed as problematic, it doesn't necessarily detract for the overall narrative. 

Even though this was my first encounter with this famous story, it felt immediately recognizable as if I had read it before: two simple-minded outlaws decide to kidnap a young child from a small southern town and hold him ransom. Unfortunately, the kid is disobedient and a total nuisance to the bumbling kidnappers. O. Henry was the O.G. of this plot device, which has been repurposed across numerous iterations. It has even permeated popular culture, especially movies like Home Alone or Dennis the Menace. Hey, I was a 90's kid. 

Like many other O. Henry stories, he employs the "twist ending" but I presume it would have be more surprising, say, back in 1907 when this story was written. Regardless, his writing unfolds with such delectable intricacy. His words possess a rare sharpness and wit, slicing through any extraneous details with precision so the end result is poetically concise. There's an breeziness to his style that makes every sentence such a joy to read. Only a select few authors have the power to ignite within me such an insatiable hunger, compelling me to voraciously consume their stories in rapid succession, unable to resist the allure of discovering what other tricks he might have up his sleeve. Lucky for me, this dude wrote a massive amount of short-stories, so I'll be satisfied for a while.

You can read this story HERE.