The Texas influence is strongly felt here, not just in Southwestern humor, but the sense of space and vistas, with few people populating them. We think of O'Henry as a New Yorker due to his successful story collections focused on New York such as The Four Million and The Trimmed Lamp, but he spent time in Texas on various speculations and, in fact, wound up in a Texas jail for three years before coming to New York and prospering with his unique story telling ability. The humor is Southwestern style, with some of the violence of that frontier humor immortalized by Mark Twain. It is not read or heard widely after one leaves high school, which is a shame because it is such a magical story about expectations being crushed by realities, and the turn of events which O'Henry was so masterful at achieving, as in The Gift of the Magi, too, the other best known O'Henry story that Simply has also recorded. Young people can relate to 10 year old Red Chief, his father who makes the kidnappers pay him back in order to take Red Chief off their hands plus come in darkness so others don't jail them, and all the antics and excitement of it all. The Ransom of Red Chief may be the most widely read story in grammar, middle, and high school.
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