How do we expect Red Chief to react to the kidnapping? How does it affect the reader?

Johnny is totally happy with being kidnapped. He is having lots of fun. In fact, when the kidnappers ask him whether he would like to go home, he says “Aw, what for? I don’t have any fun at home. I hate to go to school. I like to camp out. You won’t take me home again, will you?” Though initially, he had put up a big fight while Bill and Sam carried him away from his home, later on, he likes the idea of living in a cave with the freedom to do whatever he wants. He plays make-believe cowboy and indian games and calls himself Red Chief, “the terror of the plains.” He calls Bill "Old Hank," whom he intends to scalp at daybreak according to the game’s script. He calls Sam "Snake-eye," who is to be “broiled at the stake” at daybreak. He continuously bullies Bill, even wanting to really scalp him as per the game. He talks endlessly and is everywhere all at once. His pranks weary the two men so much so that they want him out of their hands as soon as possible.
The reader expects Johnny to want to go back home. Since he is only a boy of ten, one would expect him to miss his family and friends and really dislike the idea of being away from home and with strangers. Actually, this is the kind of reaction that the kidnappers also expected him to have. However, Johnny is no ordinary ten-year-old boy. He turns the tables on the kidnappers so that it is them who finally pay a ransom to Johnny’s father to have him out of their hands.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

In “Fahrenheit 451,” what does Faber mean by “Those who don’t build must burn. It’s as old as history and juvenile delinquents”?

Single Variable Calculus, Chapter 3, 3.6, Section 3.6, Problem 34

What was the effect of World War II on African Americans?