Jimmy Valentine Character Analysis

Set in the mid 1800s in the American Midwest, “A Retrieved Reformation” is about a bank robber named Jimmy Valentine and his change to a kind self-sacrificing man. Jimmy Valentine was a selfish criminal notorious for robbing banks. After his release from prison he continues his life of crime, feeling no remorse for his previous actions . When Jimmy is in the town of Elmore, he sees the most beautiful woman and experiences an abrupt change of heart. He changes his identity, opens a shoe store, and eventually gets engaged to the woman he had seen. In the end of the story, Jimmy’s niece gets trapped in the town’s new bank vault and it is up to Jimmy leave his niece in there to suffocate and keep his new life, or save her and leave his new life.
Spencer. After spending a year in Elmore, the character of Jimmy Valentine has experienced some dynamic changes. He has opened a shoe shop, and has a good reputation in the town, and is engaged to Annabel. In a letter he tells his friend Billy, “I’ve got a nice store. I’m making an honest living, and I’m going to marry the finest girl on earth two weeks from now” (Henry 47). Jimmy’s now almost perfect life hits a roadblock towards the end of the story when, ironically, his niece gets trapped in the town’s new bank vault. Jimmy can either protect his identity and let her die or reveal who he truly is and break into the bank vault to save her. He chooses to sacrifice his own new life and new identity to save his niece by cracking the safe using his old burglary tools. “In a minute Jimmy’s pet drill was biting smoothly into the steel door. In ten minutes—breaking his own burglarious record—he threw back the bolts and opened the door” (Henry 50). While leaving the bank and his old life of Ralph Spencer behind, Jimmy sees Ben Price, the detective that has been pursuing Jimmy wanting to prosecute him. Ben had just seen the new man Jimmy had become and let him go