The overall theme of choice and consequence in Porter's short story "The Ransom of Red Chief," is very present. From beginning to end, there are clear choices made by the leading characters and direct consequences of their choices.
In the first paragraph, the characters tell readers of their first and most important choice within the story.
"It looked like a good thing: but wait till I tell you. We were down South, in Alabama-Bill Driscoll and myself-when this kidnapping idea struck us. It was, as Bill afterward expressed it, 'during a moment of temporary mental apparition'; but we didn't find that out till later."Kidnapping was a choice that the characters made and in this passage from the story, the narrator foreshadows that there will be consequences.
After the initial first paragraph, all choices and consequences are based on the overall choice of kidnapping.
"'Hey little boy!' says Bill, 'would you like to have a bag of candy and a nice ride?'"
"The boy catches Bill neatly in the eye with a piece of brick."Choice- The kidnappers approach their victim with the promise of candy.
Consequence- Bill gets hit with a brick.
"Just at daybreak, I was awakened by a series of awful screams from Bill. They weren't yells, or howls, or shouts, or whoops, or yawps, such as you'd expect from a manly set of vocal organs-they were simply indecent, terrifying, humiliated screams, such as women emit why they see ghosts or caterpillars"
"Red Chief was sitting on Bill's chest, with one hand twined in Bill's hair. In the other he had the sharp case-knife we used for slicing bacon; and he was industriously and realistically trying to take Bill's scalp, according to the sentence that had been pronounced upon him the evening before."This is a consequence of the choice to kidnap. The terrorizing of these two men could also be said to be a consequence of the particular child they chose to kidnap.
Again, three passage from the story that illustrates a consequence of their choice.
1. "When I got to the cave I found Bill backed up against the side of it, breathing hard, and the boy threatening to smash him with a rock half as big as a coconut.
'He put a red-hot boiled potato down my back,' explained Bill, 'and then mashed it with his foot; and I boxed his ears. Have you got a gun about you, Sam?'"
2. "I dodged, and heard a heavy thud and a kind of a sigh from Bill, like a horse gives out when you take his saddle off. A niggerhead rock the size of an egg had caught Bill just behind his left ear. He loosened himself all over and fell in the fire across the frying pan of hot water for washing dishes."
3. "I was rode,' says Bill, 'the ninety miles to the stockade, not barring an inch. Then, when the settlers was rescued, I was given oats. Sand ain't a palatable substitute.
I takes him by the neck of his clothes and drags him down the mountain. On the way he kicks my legs black and blue from the knees down; and I've got two or three bites on my thumb and hand cauterized. But he's gone-continues Bill-gone home. I showed him the road to Summit and kicked him about eight feet nearer there at one kick."The narrator and Bill along with kidnapping the boy, make the choice to send the kid's father a ransom note demanding fifteen hundred dollars in exchange for the return of the child. The father returns a note stating:
"I think you are a little high in your demands, and I hereby make you a counter-proposition, which I am inclined to believe you will accept. You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and I agree to take him off your hands."This counter-proposition is a consequence of the kidnapping, taking an incorrigible child and demanding ransom from the victim's father. The father knows perfectly well his son's behavior.
At the end of Porter's story, the kidnappers believe the father's proposition to be sound deal and they return the child.
"'Tell you the truth, Bill,' says I, 'this little he ewe lamb has somewhat got on my nerves too. We'll take him home, pay the ransom and make our get-away.'"