What
is the setting (place) of the story?
Why
is the name of the town, Summit, ironic?
Why
did the kidnappers choose a small town? Why is this a good place for a kidnapping?
What
do you think philoprogenitiveness means?
At
the first dinner, what does the "victim" reveal about himself?
Does
Red Chief want to go home? Explain.
When
do the desperados first realize that their plans might backfire?
After
Bill reports that the young boy has gone home, why does the narrator ask, "there
isn't any heart disease in your family, is there?"
Write
a summary of Red Chief's mischievous activities.
After
the narrator reads out the reply from Mr. Dorset, why does Bill have such an "appealing
look in his eyes"?
Mr.
Dorset's letter specifies that the young boy better be returned at night. Why?
What
do the con men have to tell the young "victim" in order to convince
him to go home with them?
Why
are the kidnappers worried about how long Ebenezer Dorset can hold on to Red Chief?
Think
about the three O. Henry stories we have read: "The Gift of the Magi,"
"A Retrieved Reformation" and "The Ransom of Red Chief." What
do you suppose is meant by the term, an "O. Henry ending"? How does
each story exempify this?
How
is the way that "The Ransom of Red Chief" ends a little different than
the endings of the other two stories?