Jimmy Valentine In O. Henry's A Retrieved Reformation

O. Henry’s short story “A Retrieved Reformation,” is about Jimmy Valentine, a young criminal. Jimmy Valentine is condemned of cracking safe, but the Governor granted Valentine clemency because he had many criminal friends on the outside. After he got released Jimmy recommenced his life of crime as a safecracker. Ben Price, a police officer, started looking for him, so Jimmy moved to a small town in Arkansas called Elmore. There Jimmy met Annabel Adams. He fell in love with her, and he found a new purpose in life. Jimmy changed his name and decided to transform himself into a hard working and a worthy man. One moral the story suggests is if given another opportunity, people can change.

In the beginning, the details show that Jimmy was given a second chance when he got released. “Brace up, and make a man of yourself. You’re not a bad fellow at heart. Stop cracking safes and live straight.” This quote illustrates that the warden and Jimmy both knew that Jimmy had another opportunity on becoming a better man. He could improve his life if he wanted to. Though, after getting released Jimmy proceeded his old life of crime, but Ben started coming after him, so he moved to Elmore. There, he met Annabel and had a new motivation in life. He quit robbing banks

Spencer, had successfully changed into a successful and a hard-working man because of the chance he got. He abandons his plan to rob the bank in Elmore. Jimmy remained in town and opened a successful shoe store. He wrote a letter to an old friend in which he admitted to change and prepared to give away his burglary tools. Also, when he was saving the girl, Valentine threw away his new identity as a reformed man. Ben Price retrieved that reformed identity by conspiring to keep Valentine’s true identity a secret. By seeing this character change, we have learned that no matter what you have done in the past, when given the opportunity you can always change or start