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Dramatic Irony
Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Ben Price:
In “A Retrieved Reformation,” Detective Price acts as a foil to Jimmy, meaning that the juxtaposition of the two men reveals important information about Jimmy’s character. At first glance, Price and Jimmy are opposites—Price is a police officer with a very strong moral compass and commitment to following the rules of society, while Jimmy is a criminal who feels comfortable stealing from others, covering up for other criminals, and benefitting from political corruption (as seen in the governor shortening his sentence).
The following passage—a rare look at Price’s perspective—captures the differences between the two men:
Ben Price knew Jimmy’s habits. He had learned them while working up the Springfield case. Long jumps, quick get-aways, no confederates, and a taste for good society—these ways had helped Mr. Valentine to become noted as a successful dodger of retribution. It was given out that Ben Price had taken up the trail of the elusive cracksman, and other people with burglar-proof safes felt more at ease.
Price is presented as a very trustworthy figure who is good at his job—he “knows Jimmy’s habits,” and “people with burglar-proof safes feel more at ease” once he is on the case. Meanwhile, Jimmy is presented as a lawless criminal who has “a taste for good society,” implying that he is more self-centered than a man like Price.
That said, this passage also presents a key similarity between the two men: they take their respective work very seriously. Jimmy’s success with his pattern of “long jumps, quick get-aways, no confederates” indicates that he is skilled and diligent with his “work.” The similarities between the two men grow over the course of the story as Jimmy falls in love with Annabel and transforms into a law-abiding man committed to living a “straight” life.
It is notable that, at the end of the story, after witnessing Jimmy’s transformation for himself, Price decides not to arrest him for all of his past crimes, breaking the law himself in the process. It is this moment that highlights how truly similar the two men are—in addition to their strong work ethics, they are also both willing to break the law when they believe it is right.
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