Question

What conflict must Ben Price, the law man who knows Jimmy Valentine well, resolve in O. Henry's story "A Retrieved Reformation"? Jimmy is not guilty of the crimes, but Ben Price must arrest him anyway. Although Jimmy is guilty, he is no longer a criminal. Although Jimmy is guilty, he is supposed to be getting married. Jimmy is guilty, but Ben Price likes him too much to arrest him.

Answer 1

Answer:

Although Jimmy is guilty, he is no longer a criminal.

Explanation:

O Henry's short story "A Retrieved Reformation" tells the story of a criminal Jimmy Valentine who had been to prison for breaking into safes and stealing from them. He was released and had gone back to his previous thieving ways when he met Annabel Adams. That changed his perceptions and even his aims. He reformed his ways and became a new man, a new identity Mr. Ralph Spencer, opening a shop and was on the way to getting married in a few weeks.

One particular day, while he was inside the Adams family bank with his future wife and her family, a little girl got stuck in a safe which no one can open it. Jimmy got to work and rescued the girl, but at the same time revealing his true profession, his old profession to the rest. Ben Price, the cop, had been observing everything and saw that Jimmy was indeed a changed man. So, he did not arrest him, rather telling him "I don’t  believe I know you."