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How does the boy respond to the kidnappers and what can you infer about his character in "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry?

When Sam and Bill decide to kidnap the son of the most prominent citizen in town, "a mortgage fancier" and wealthy man named Ebenezer Dorset, they capture an enfant terrible who later calls himself "Red Chief." 


After Bill and Sam drive into town, the men pull up next to a little boy who is throwing bricks at a cat. 


“Hey, little boy!” says Bill, “would you like to have a bag of candy and a...

When Sam and Bill decide to kidnap the son of the most prominent citizen in town, "a mortgage fancier" and wealthy man named Ebenezer Dorset, they capture an enfant terrible who later calls himself "Red Chief." 


After Bill and Sam drive into town, the men pull up next to a little boy who is throwing bricks at a cat. 



“Hey, little boy!” says Bill, “would you like to have a bag of candy and a nice ride?”



The boy hurls a piece of brick at Bill.



“That will cost the old man an extra five hundred dollars,” says Bill, climbing over the wheel.



Clearly, this rambunctious and unmannerly boy has been spoiled and allowed to be impetuous and wild, rather than be made to behave.


Of course, the humor of the story derives from Red Chief's further acts of terror at the camp that Bill and Sam set up above the town. Sam returns to this hideout many times to find Red Chief has battered Bill. Sam also awakens to find Red Chief sitting on Bill, holding the man's hair in his hand with the intention of scalping him. Sam and Bill try to return the boy after obtaining no word from his father. Ebeneezer Dorset only takes the boy back when Sam and Bill pay him, not the other way around as the kidnappers originally hoped.

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