Submitted by: Submitted by wendyvanguard
Views: 622
Words: 292
Pages: 2
Category: English Composition
Date Submitted: 10/19/2010 09:26 PM
I Agree With the Sheriff
I'm writing about O' Henry's "Retrieved Reformation" and why I agree with the Sheriff’s decision on letting Jimmy Valentine, the infamous safecracker, get away even though he had the chance to arrest him. "Retrieved Reformation" is about the world’s best safecracker who gets out of jail after 10 months and goes to a small town to rob another bank. He then sees the love of his life, who is the bank owner’s daughter, and ends up being her fiancé. He stops robbing banks and is about to give away his tools but in that moment he ends up in a bad situation. Jimmy Valentine has a choice to save a small child who's locked in a safe, and he risks revealing his true identity to his fiancée. Or he can ignore the girl and hide his identity. He ends up saving the girl. He then runs into the sheriff who lets him go even though the sheriff knows that right after Valentine’s release from prison and before living honestly as a shoe store owner, he robbed some banks.
I agree with the sheriff's decision. I agree with it because Valentine isn't a criminal anymore. He's giving away his tools. He saved the girl that was stuck in the safe. Also his crimes were not violent. I also think that the sheriff is letting him get away because he is getting married. Also, after seeing him save the girl, he knew Valentine wouldn't rob any more banks.
Those are the reasons why I agree with the sheriff's decision.
“May, the nine year old girl, in a spirit of play,
had shut Agatha in the vault.”