write a critical analysis of o henry's the duel

The Duel (Henry)

Two friends, William and Jack, moved to New York City from the West with dreams of making it big. They were determined to conquer the city and not let it change them.

Four years later, they met for lunch and discussed their experiences in the city. William had become a successful businessman, earning $8,000 a year selling automatic pumps. He had fully embraced the city's lifestyle and culture, enjoying its many pleasures and opportunities. Jack, on the other hand, was an artist who despised the city and saw it as a leech that drained the blood of the country.

This town is a leech. It drains the blood of the country. Whoever comes to it accepts a challenge to a duel.

He believed that the city had conquered William and changed him for the worse. During their lunch meeting, Jack told William, "You’ve lost, Billy. It shall never conquer me. I hate it as one hates sin or pestilence or—the color work in a ten-cent magazine."

You’ve lost, Billy. It shall never conquer me. I hate it as one hates sin or pestilence or—the color work in a ten-cent magazine.

One night, Jack received a telegram from a woman named Dolly in the West, asking him to come back and promising a positive response to a proposal. He considered the offer but ultimately decided that he could not leave New York City at that time.

Impossible to leave here at present.

He continued to sit by his window, taking in the sights and sounds of the city that both fascinated and repulsed him.

The story leaves it up to the reader to decide which of the two friends, if either, truly won the battle against the city.

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Story of the Week

Friday, september 9, 2011.

by O. Henry

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O. Henry's "The Duel"

Jack, the artist, says, “Hand to hand every newcomer must struggle with the leviathan. You’ve lost, Billy. It shall never conquer me. I hate it as one hates sin or pestilence or—the color work in a ten-cent magazine. I despise its very vastness and power. It has the poorest millionaires, the littlest great men, the haughtiest beggars, the plainest beauties, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest pleasures of any town I ever saw. It has caught you, old man, but I will never run beside its chariot wheels.” In the short story, “The Duel”, by O. Henry, two characters, Jack and William, travel from the West to New York City to seek opportunity and wealth. After a period of four years, the characters meet up again, and Jack observes how William has undeniably been changed by the city. O. Henry depicts New York as a society filled with evildoing using description from repeated paradoxes, war imagery, and the astuteness of Jack. In Jack’s discussion with William, Jack utilizes repetition of paradoxes to draw attention to the idea that New York City puts on a misleading appearance. A paradox is a phrase that appears contradictory, but upon closer examination, may contain some teaching. Jack says, “It has the poorest millionaires, the littlest great men, the haughtiest beggars, the plainest beauties, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest pleasures of any town I ever saw.” Jack’s employs the paradox, with the effect of belittling New York City. His argument, in its essence, is that while the people of New York City may appear to possess material wealth, they really have nothing. His words do not appear to be possible. The reason that Jack believes New York City’s millionaires to be the “poorest” of any city, and its great men to be the “littlest”, is because New York City has taken their identity, and given them wealth in exchange. Jack’s argument stresses the importance of identity, and he considers it on an equal or greater scale of importance than wealth and name. In this way, Jack’s use of the paradox accentuates his point that though people of New York City may gain material wealth, they lose something of equal or more important value. During Jack’s confrontation with William, Jack’s creates war imagery in order to convince the audience of the evils of New York City. Jack says, “Hand to hand every newcomer must struggle with the leviathan. You’ve lost, Billy. It shall never conquer me.” Jack later adds, “It has caught you, old man, but I will never run beside its chariot wheels.” Jack’s description of “hand to hand” struggles with the city, which Jack compares to the leviathan, a sea monster, picture a personal fight, which will either result in one’s victory or one’s submission to the cities social codes. Jack also describes the city’s “chariot wheels”. Against a group of foot soldiers, or infantry, the chariot is a formidable foe that would use speed to run down infantry, while also shooting projectiles to wear down the enemy. Jack’s previous image of a one on one fight with the city, combined with Jack’s new image of the city as a chariot, illustrates an unfair battle, in which the city has an advantage. If one is not to die, then he must join the city, or as Jack puts, “run beside its chariot wheels.” Jack’s war imagery pictures the city as a deadly enemy, which, if one does not side with, will probably be killed. In the big picture, Jack states that if one does not succumb to the city’s social codes and fall into the same behavior and characteristics as others, then he will be exiled. Jack’s nonconformity illustrates the evilness of the city. Jack is adamant in his resolve to win the battle against the city, as he describes using war imagery. Jack says, “You’ve lost, Billy. It shall never conquer me.” Jack’s stubborn behavior attracts special attention because Jack is the only one in the story who sees the evil of the city. Being the only one in his opinion, Jack may be either crazy or correct. However, because Jack’s belief is founded in reason such as the war imagery which he uses, as well as description using paradoxes, the audience is more inclined to believe his words. Jack’s willfulness illustrates flaws in New York City. Essentially, O. Henry attempts to convince the reader that because the social codes of New York City are applied to everyone that enters, and that because most change themselves to suit the society, that New York City is an enemy, filled with sin. The city erases identity in exchange for status, which O. Henry argues, leaves its citizens with a net gain equal to or less than nothing. Jack and William’s experiences in New York City illustrate a teaching on nonconformity. Sometimes, one will be preserved by it, and other times, one’s adamant nonconformity will have a negative impact on one’s life.

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4 comments:

It's too good thank you.

its good article, but i cant copy this text, please could you help me

good, exhaustive. What are the weeknesses of O'Henry's writings? Thank you!!

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A Summary and Analysis of O. Henry’s ‘The Last Leaf’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The stories of the US short-story writer O. Henry, real name William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), are characterised by their irony and by their surprise endings, which became something of a signature of a good O. Henry short story. The 1907 story ‘The Last Leaf’ is among his most famous: along with ‘The Gift of the Magi’ it may be the best-known O. Henry story of all.

You can read ‘The Last Leaf’ here before proceeding to our summary and analysis of O. Henry’s story below.

‘The Last Leaf’: plot summary

The story focuses on two female artists. The women are named Sue and Joanna, who is known as ‘Johnsy’. They live in Greenwich Village in New York among a ‘colony’ of artists who reside in the area.

One particularly cold winter, Johnsy falls ill with pneumonia and it looks likely she will die of the disease. The doctor takes Sue to one side and tells her that Johnsy has perhaps a ten per cent chance of surviving, but what she needs is something worth living for that will give her the strength to rally and recover. He asks Sue if Johnsy has a man in her life she loves, but Sue says she has not.

Johnsy herself believes that she will perish when the last leaf of the year falls from the ivy vine outside her window. She has resigned herself to dying, much to the frustration of Sue, who is trying to help her friend.

Sue and Johnsy live in the top apartment of the house. On the ground floor, Behrman, a male artist in his sixties lives. He has a beard like Moses in Michelangelo’s famous sculpture. He is always talking about being on the brink of producing his ‘masterpiece’, but has never yet done so. He is, in short, a failed artist.

When Sue tells Behrman about Johnsy’s belief that she will perish when the last leaf falls from the vine, he scoffs at such a superstitious idea. But when Sue asks him to come and pose for her (he often poses for other artists), he agrees.

The next day, Johnsy asks Sue to roll up the blind so she can look out at the ivy vine and see if the last leaf has fallen. But when the blind is put up, they find the last leaf still holding onto the branch. The day turns into night and still the last leaf clings to the vine.

Johnsy apologises to Sue, realising how selfish it was to long to die like that. She interprets the ivy leaf’s tenacity as a sign that she should not have been so ready to embrace death.

The doctor visits and announces that Johnsy’s condition has much improved. However, he has also come to visit Behrman downstairs, who has fallen seriously ill with pneumonia. Sure enough, he dies soon after. In the final paragraph of the story, Sue tells Johnsy that Berhman painted an imitation ivy leaf and attached it to the vine on the wall the night the real last leaf fell to the ground.

That leaf, which was good enough to pass for a real leaf, is his masterpiece, which he has finally produced. But in going out into the cold weather to paint the leaf, he caught pneumonia and died.

‘The Last Leaf’: analysis

The most characteristic feature of O. Henry’s short stories, many of which run to just a few pages, is the surprise twist ending. ‘The Last Leaf’ is no exception.

Two key details of the story – Johnsy’s belief that the last leaf on the vine is a ‘sign’ of her own imminent demise, Behrman’s belief that he is imminently about to produce his life’s ‘masterpiece’ – converge at the story’s close, as it is revealed that Johnsy’s superstitious belief (which Behrman mocked as silly) is what enabled him to paint his masterpiece.

Similarly, the existence of Behrman’s fake leaf gives Johnsy the necessary mental strength to turn a corner with her illness and realise how wrong it was to wish for death.

A number of O. Henry stories contain profound irony, especially in their final plot twists. ‘The Last Leaf’ is more ironic than most, perhaps because the stakes are so high: Behrman dies of the same illness which afflicted Johnsy; Behrman gives his life in order to save Johnsy’s, but also to produce his life’s work, his ‘masterpiece’.

There is also a deep irony attached to the doctor’s earlier conversation with Sue, in which he enquired whether Johnsy had a ‘man’ in her life who might provide her with a reason to go on living. Of course, the doctor has a beau or sweetheart in mind, but Behrman – whose German surname even contains the word ‘man’ – turns out to be the unlikely saviour come to fulfil that prophecy.

O. Henry spends considerable time portraying Behrman as a failure who drinks too much gin and has led a largely wasted life. He appears to have no family and has not produced any art of note, despite self-identifying as an ‘artist’:

He was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo’s Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr along with the body of an imp. Behrman was a failure in art. Forty years he had wielded the brush without getting near enough to touch the hem of his Mistress’s robe. He had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. For several years he had painted nothing except now and then a daub in the line of commerce or advertising.

Note how the closest parallel between Behrman and Michelangelo is in the former’s physical appearance: his beard resembles that of Moses in the great artist’s sculpture . Behrman appears more like a work of (ageing) art than he appears capable of producing one. Indeed, the comparisons with a satyr and an imp suggest he is lecherous and sinful: satyrs are fauns often associated (in artworks) with lust.

He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony who could not pay the price of a professional. He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece. For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who scoffed terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as especial mastiff-in-waiting to protect the two young artists in the studio above.

The irony is, of course, that this gruff, morally questionable man who despises ‘softness’ will give his life in pursuit of saving another. And sure enough, O. Henry is quick to stress how protective Behrman is towards both Sue and Johnsy. But of course, in painting his leaf he also frees himself from forty years of artistic failure and (relative) inactivity.

What, then, is the ‘moral’ of ‘The Last Leaf’? In part, the story can be analysed as a moral fable (of sorts) about art: the best art springs out of the need to help others. Behrman may dismiss Johnsy’s belief in the last leaf falling as misguided magical thinking, but he knows that he will be providing a service to her in painting the leaf and staving off her desire for death. This is in keeping with his readiness to pose as a model for other poor and struggling young artists.

Such an attitude – the best art helps others – has a corollary: namely, that the artist is himself helped in his pursuit of great art when he is motivated to help others. The best art, O. Henry seems to be saying, springs from compassion.

If you found this analysis helpful, you might also enjoy these discussions of other classic O. Henry stories, ‘ The Romance of a Busy Broker ’, ‘ A Cosmopolite in a Café ’, and ‘ Memoirs of a Yellow Dog ’.

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The gods, lying beside their nectar on 'Lympus and peeping over the edge of the cliff, perceive a difference in cities. Although it would seem that to their vision towns must appear as large or small ant-hills without special characteristics, yet it is not so. Studying the habits of ants from so great a height should be but a mild diversion when coupled with the soft drink that mythology tells us is their only solace. But doubtless they have amused themselves by the comparison of villages and towns; and it will be no news to them (nor, perhaps, to many mortals), that in one particularity New York stands unique among the cities of the world. This shall be the theme of a little story addressed to the man who sits smoking with his Sabbath-slippered feet on another chair, and to the woman who snatches the paper for a moment while boiling greens or a narcotized baby leaves her free. With these I love to sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of Kings.

New York City is inhabited by 4,000,000 mysterious strangers; thus beating Bird Centre by three millions and half a dozen nine’s. They came here in various ways and for many reasons—Hendrik Hudson, the art schools, green goods, the stork, the annual dressmakers’ convention, the Pennsylvania Railroad, love of money, the stage, cheap excursion rates, brains, personal column ads., heavy walking shoes, ambition, freight trains—all these have had a hand in making up the population.

But every man Jack when he first sets foot on the stones of Manhattan has got to fight. He has got to fight at once until either he or his adversary wins. There is no resting between rounds, for there are no rounds. It is slugging from the first. It is a fight to a finish.

Your opponent is the City. You must do battle with it from the time the ferry-boat lands you on the island until either it is yours or it has conquered you. It is the same whether you have a million in your pocket or only the price of a week’s lodging.

The battle is to decide whether you shall become a New Yorker or turn the rankest outlander and Philistine. You must be one or the other. You cannot remain neutral. You must be for or against—lover or enemy—bosom friend or outcast. And, oh, the city is a general in the ring. Not only by blows does it seek to subdue you. It woos you to its heart with the subtlety of a siren. It is a combination of Delilah, green Chartreuse, Beethoven, chloral and John L. in his best days.

In other cities you may wander and abide as a stranger man as long as you please. You may live in Chicago until your hair whitens, and be a citizen and still prate of beans if Boston mothered you, and without rebuke. You may become a civic pillar in any other town but Knickerbocker’s, and all the time publicly sneering at its buildings, comparing them with the architecture of Colonel Telfair’s residence in Jackson, Miss., whence you hail, and you will not be set upon. But in New York you must be either a New Yorker or an invader of a modern Troy, concealed in the wooden horse of your conceited provincialism. And this dreary preamble is only to introduce to you the unimportant figures of William and Jack.

They came out of the West together, where they had been friends. They came to dig their fortunes out of the big city.

Father Knickerbocker met them at the ferry, giving one a right-hander on the nose and the other an upper-cut with his left, just to let them know that the fight was on.

William was for business; Jack was for Art. Both were young and ambitious; so they countered and clinched. I think they were from Nebraska or possibly Missouri or Minnesota. Anyhow, they were out for success and scraps and scads, and they tackled the city like two Lochinvars with brass knucks and a pull at the City Hall.

Four years afterward William and Jack met at luncheon. The business man blew in like a March wind, hurled his silk hat at a waiter, dropped into the chair that was pushed under him, seized the bill of fare, and had ordered as far as cheese before the artist had time to do more than nod. After the nod a humorous smile came into his eyes.

“Billy,” he said, “you’re done for. The city has gobbled you up. It has taken you and cut you to its pattern and stamped you with its brand. You are so nearly like ten thousand men I have seen to-day that you couldn’t be picked out from them if it weren’t for your laundry marks.”

“Camembert,” finished William. “What’s that? Oh, you’ve still got your hammer out for New York, have you? Well, little old Noisyville-on-the-Subway is good enough for me. It’s giving me mine. And, say, I used to think the West was the whole round world—only slightly flattened at the poles whenever Bryan ran. I used to yell myself hoarse about the free expense, and hang my hat on the horizon, and say cutting things in the grocery to little soap drummers from the East. But I’d never seen New York, then, Jack. Me for it from the rathskellers up. Sixth Avenue is the West to me now. Have you heard this fellow Crusoe sing? The desert isle for him, I say, but my wife made me go. Give me May Irwin or E. S. Willard any time.”

“Poor Billy,” said the artist, delicately fingering a cigarette. “You remember, when we were on our way to the East how we talked about this great, wonderful city, and how we meant to conquer it and never let it get the best of us? We were going to be just the same fellows we had always been, and never let it master us. It has downed you, old man. You have changed from a maverick into a butterick.”

“Don’t see exactly what you are driving at,” said William. "I don’t wear an alpaca coat with blue trousers and a seersucker vest on dress occasions, like I used to do at home. You talk about being cut to a pattern—well, ain’t the pattern all right? When you’re in Rome you’ve got to do as the Dagoes do. This town seems to me to have other alleged metropolises skinned to flag stations. According to the railroad schedule I’ve got in mind, Chicago and Saint Jo and Paris, France, are asterisk stops—which means you wave a red flag and get on every other Tuesday. I like this little suburb of Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson. There’s something or somebody doing all the time. I’m clearing $8,000 a year selling automatic pumps, and I’m living like kings-up. Why, yesterday, I was introduced to John W. Gates. I took an auto ride with a wine agent’s sister. I saw two men run over by a street car, and I seen Edna May play in the evening. Talk about the West, why, the other night I woke everybody up in the hotel hollering. I dreamed I was walking on a board sidewalk in Oshkosh. What have you got against this town, Jack? There’s only one thing in it that I don’t care for, and that’s a ferryboat.”

The artist gazed dreamily at the cartridge paper on the wall. “This town,” said he, “is a leech. It drains the blood of the country. Whoever comes to it accepts a challenge to a duel. Abandoning the figure of the leech, it is a juggernaut, a Moloch, a monster to which the innocence, the genius, and the beauty of the land must pay tribute. Hand to hand every newcomer must struggle with the leviathan. You’ve lost, Billy. It shall never conquer me. I hate it as one hates sin or pestilence or—the color work in a ten-cent magazine. I despise its very vastness and power. It has the poorest millionaires, the littlest great men, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest pleasures of any town I ever saw. It has caught you, old man, but I will never run beside its chariot wheels. It glosses itself as the Chinaman glosses his collars. Give me the domestic finish. I could stand a town ruled by wealth or one ruled by an aristocracy; but this is one controlled by its lowest ingredients. Claiming culture, it is the crudest; asseverating its pre-eminence, it is the basest; denying all outside values and virtue, it is the narrowest. Give me the pure and the open heart of the West country. I would go back there to-morrow if I could.”

“Don’t you like this _filet mignon_?" said William. “Shucks, now, what’s the use to knock the town! It’s the greatest ever. I couldn’t sell one automatic pump between Harrisburg and Tommy O’Keefe’s saloon, in Sacramento, where I sell twenty here. And have you seen Sara Bernhardt in 'Andrew Mack’ yet?”

“The town’s got you, Billy,” said Jack.

“All right,” said William. “I’m going to buy a cottage on Lake Ronkonkoma next summer.”

At midnight Jack raised his window and sat close to it. He caught his breath at what he saw, though he had seen and felt it a hundred times.

Far below and around lay the city like a ragged purple dream. The irregular houses were like the broken exteriors of cliffs lining deep gulches and winding streams. Some were mountainous; some lay in long, desert cañons. Such was the background of the wonderful, cruel, enchanting, bewildering, fatal, great city. But into this background were cut myriads of brilliant parallelograms and circles and squares through which glowed many colored lights. And out of the violet and purple depths ascended like the city’s soul sounds and odors and thrills that make up the civic body. There arose the breath of gaiety unrestrained, of love, of hate, of all the passions that man can know. There below him lay all things, good or bad, that can be brought from the four corners of the earth to instruct, please, thrill, enrich, despoil, elevate, cast down, nurture or kill. Thus the flavor of it came up to him and went into his blood.

There was a knock on his door. A telegram had come for him. It came from the West, and these were its words:

“Come back and the answer will be yes.

He kept the boy waiting ten minutes, and then wrote the reply: “Impossible to leave here at present.” Then he sat at the window again and let the city put its cup of mandragora to his lips again.

After all it isn’t a story; but I wanted to know which one of the heroes won the battle against the city. So I went to a very learned friend and laid the case before him. What he said was: “Please don’t bother me; I have Christmas presents to buy.”

So there it rests; and you will have to decide for yourself.

#AmericanWriters

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Blinker was displeased. A man of less culture and poise and wealth would have sworn. But Blinker always remembered that he was a gentleman—a thing that no gentleman should do. So he mer...

In the northern part of Austin there once dwelt an honest family by the name of Smothers. The family consisted of John Smothers, his wife, himself, their little daughter, five years of ...

Inexorably Sam Galloway saddled his pony. He was going away from the Rancho Altito at the end of a three-months’ visit. It is not to be expected that a guest should put up with wheat co...

At the head of the insurgent party appeared that Hector and learned Theban of the southern republics, Don Sabas Placido. A traveller, a soldier, a poet, a scientist, a statesman and a c...

Baldy Woods reached for the bottle, and got it. Whenever Baldy went for anything he usually—but this is not Baldy’s story. He poured out a third drink that was larger by a finger than t...

I don’t suppose it will knock any of you people off your perch to read a contribution from an animal. Mr. Kipling and a good many others have demonstrated the fact that animals can expr...

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Home › Literature › Analysis of O. Henry’s The Last Leaf

Analysis of O. Henry’s The Last Leaf

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 26, 2021

One of the most famous of the O. Henry tales, “The Last Leaf” (1907) not only concludes with the usual O. Henry surprise ending, but, like “A Service of Love,” is conveyed with a narrative tone of sadness and even despair. Two young women artists, Sue and Joanna (Johnsy), share a brownstone in New York. In a cold and wintry November, Johnsy catches pneumonia (personified as an icy ravager who smites his victims as he strides through Greenwich Village) and has resigned herself to dying; the doctor gives her one chance in 10 unless she can find a reason to live. Johnsy tells the distraught Sue that with the fall of the last leaf on the ivy vine that clings to the wall outside her window, she will die. Sue reveals the situation to their failed artist friend Mr. Behrman; he poses for the sketch of an old hermit miner that Sue must finish for her editor; then Sue lies down to sleep for an hour. When she awakens, she and Johnsy look out the window to see that one leaf has survived the nighttime rains and gusty winds, encouraging Johnsy to disregard her previous “foolish” belief that she is near death. As she recovers, however, the doctor informs them that Mr. Behrman has died of pneumonia. He had been found soaking wet, his body lying next to a ladder, a lantern, and some paint brushes. The clear implication is that Behrman braved the cold and rain while printing the last leaf (which actually had fallen) on the wall so that Johnsy would not die.

This story, as have many of O. Henry’s, has been called implausible and sentimental. It nevertheless appeals to readers in the generosity of the selfless Mr. Behrman and in the uniqueness of the plot. The irony of Mr. Behrman’s losing his life to save Johnsy’s emanates from the same selflessness exhibited in the husband and wife in the well-known O. Henry story “The Gift of the Magi.”

“The Last Leaf” may be interpreted from feminist and lesbian perspectives, too, to produce some intriguing readings. From a feminist viewpoint, the skeptical doctor and the male-personified illness try to undermine the women’s aspirations. The doctor asks Sue if Johnsy has anything worth thinking about to keep her alive, either a man or an interest in women’s fashions. Johnsy’s longings lie not in sex or clothing styles, but, Sue responds, in art: She hopes someday to travel to Italy to paint the Bay of Naples. From this perspective, the women emerge victorious: Helped by the old European artist, they defy the illness and the doctor and survive to continue their work as independent women artists. From the lesbian viewpoint, however, the story has a more somber message. Clearly Johnsy and Sue may be viewed as lesbians: Johnsy’s name is a masculinized version of Joanna ; Sue alternately swaggers and whistles, and talks baby talk to Johnsy, calling herself Johnsy’s “Sudie.” Moreover, the story centers on Johnsy in bed, with Sue leaning her face on the pillow or putting her arm around her. Not only do the male doctor and Mr. Pneumonia attempt to break up the pair, but in the very survival of these women, a man, Mr. Behrman, must die—a plot suggesting a hostility toward lesbian women at the core of the story.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Henry, O. “The Last Leaf.” In The Collected Works of O. Henry. Vol. 2. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1953.

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7 Henry's Challenge to the Dauphin: The Duel that Never Was and Games of Chivalry

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Although Shakespeare may have had a certain historical basis for relying heavily on Holinshed and Hall in coming up with his Henry in Henry V , there may still have been a number of events that he was not aware of since there are events that both Hall and Holinshed may not have mentioned. Two such events that could have made great dramatic impacts are Henry's duelling challenge that he presented to Dauphin after he had been able to conquer Harfleur, and the proposal that the French party put forward that involved how both parties were given the authority to choose the time and place for war. These are examined in this chapter to observe how such events were able to reflect certain chivalric norms.

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“Smile with Tears”—— An Interpretation of O. Henry’s Short Stories

School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, PR China

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As one of the greatest short-story novelists in the world, O. Henry is a critical realistic author, also one of the world’s three major short masters, together with Chekov and Maupassant. His writing style is appreciated by numerous readers, especially for the twist plot and the surprising ending with the feature of “smile with tears”. In language, O. Henry uses many rhetoric tactics to achieve the effect of making the stories more vivid and humorous, such as exaggeration, metaphor, and simile and so on. His writing materials are from his own life experiences, that each story is a reflection of the society then, and he always sympathizes with the poor, criticizes and satirizes the capitalists even the common insignificants who have the valuable humanity. Through the analysis of O. Henry’s representative novels, it has expounded the humanistic spirit and optimistic expectation of human kindness contained in his works, which also shows love and kindness are the ultimate belief and the eternal chapter praised by all human beings. Therefore, it has become a major stylistic feature of O. Henry’s novels to show the characters’ psychology by depicting the emotional motivation, which is also the main line and key to our analysis of his works. Moreover, his unique writing styles influence following authors in the field of literature, therefore, his story is known as the “encyclopedia of American life”.

O. Henry, Short Stories, Writing Skills

Ning Li. (2021). “Smile with Tears”—— An Interpretation of O. Henry’s Short Stories. English Language, Literature & Culture , 6 (3), 44-49. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.11

Ning Li. “Smile with Tears”—— An Interpretation of O. Henry’s Short Stories. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2021 , 6 (3), 44-49. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.11

Ning Li. “Smile with Tears”—— An Interpretation of O. Henry’s Short Stories. Engl Lang Lit Cult . 2021;6(3):44-49. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.11

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Henry was an American short-story writer. His original name was William Sydney Porter. Apart from O. Henry, he had other pen-names too, like S.H. Peters, James L. Bliss, T.B. Dowd, and Howard Clark.

A Short Biography of O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)

William Sydney Porter was born on 11 September 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.

He got his early education from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter’s school.

He started practicing in his uncle’s pharmacy store when he was sixteen and got his pharmacist’s license from there. During this period he used to draw sketches of people, this was the first expression of his artistic abilities.

In 1882, he moved to Texas in order to get rid of his persistent cough. From there he went to Austin where he did different jobs besides writing. Meanwhile, he fell in love with a girl from a rich family, named Athol Estes. On 1st July 1887, they eloped to get married. 

Porter was given a job by his Land Commissioner friend, Richard Hall but he resigned from the job when his friend lost the next election.

The same year he started a job at a bank as a bank teller and bookkeeper but he was careless at bookkeeping. The bank accused him of embezzlement and fired him.

In 1894, he started a humourous weekly “The Rolling Stone” but it failed, though it had drawn him the attention of the “ Houston Post”. He moved to Houston to continue his writing career. There he used to observe and meet people in hotel lobbies to gather information for his novel.

While in Houston, he was arrested in 1896 in the bank embezzlement case. His father-in-law appealed for his bail but one day before the trial, he fled to Honduras. There he wrote “ Cabbages and Kings” and befriended Al Jennings, a notorious train robber and later on wrote about him in his book.

At that time, he was informed of Athol’s illness and he had to go back to Austin. After a few months, Athol died of tuberculosis and Porter was put in prison for five years in the embezzlement case. Since he was a licensed pharmacist he provided his services to Prison hospital.

While in jail, he published fourteen short stories with his pen name, O. Henry, to hide his identity. He was released for his good conduct after three years of service at the Prison hospital.

In 1902, His prolific writing period started in New York. He used to write one story a week for New York World Sunday Magazine. He wrote almost 381 short stories.

On 5 June 1910, he died in New York due to cirrhosis of the liver, at the age of forty-seven. He is buried in North Carolina.

O. Henry’s Writing Style

In the history of American Literature, O’Henry is one of the most celebrated and well-known writers. He has an intense writing style. His writing is full of paronomasia, irony, metaphor, exaggeration, and metonymy that make his stories humoristic and funny. His endings are surprising and design the plot of his stories dramatically. The endings of his stories are quite unexpected for the readers. Another important feature of his writing style is the combination of tragedy and comedy, i.e., tearful smile.

O’ Henry was very good at using different techniques and styles. His style contains local color . As he was born in North Carolina, he directly belonged to Southern background. His writings are deeply inspired by his native culture. The speech patterns and rhythm in the writings of O’Henry are of common folks that add variety, vivacity, and interests in his stories.

Most of the stories of O’Henry are about folk’s lifestyle in the South. The setting of almost thirty stories, of all stories, is of old South and deals with the attitudes and activities of common southern characters. His writings have a realistic touch as he takes dialogues from his own childhood and has first-hand experience with people of various classes. The main characters of his stories were mostly the people surrounding him. Many of his stories like “The Ransom of Red Chief”, “The Gift of Magi” and “The Last Leaf” are also set in New York City which show his special affection for New York City and its people.

Most of his narrative is based on his childhood in the South and his dealings with the criminals of Texas. He talks about his life with the criminals of Texas in his stories. He based the main characters of these stories with his first-hand experience with them.

His stories are interesting and his plots are twisted. He exaggerates his characters and makes them interesting. An example of exaggerated characters is in the short story “The Ransom of Red Chief” which is perhaps the funniest among his short stories. Johnny, a little boy who is kidnapped by two kidnappers. He is not like normal kids who are terrified and sad being kidnapped rather he enjoys being kidnapped.

There are two basic styles of O’Henry. He either wrote as a humorist like J.J. Hooper and A.B. Longstreet or with the local color. However, in both ways, the characters have the manner, speech, and attitude of southern people. The best examples of his local color style are “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking, “Georgia’s Ruling,” and Money Maze.”

O’Henry has a great ability to use allusions . His literary allusions, particularly ancient classics and Shakespearean plays, show the artistry of O’ Henry with words. His short story, “The Poet and the Peasant,” has a lot of literary devices, including allusions.

The unique writing style of O’Henry is the chief reason for his fame. His most famous short stories are interesting and funny. Readers enjoy his writing because if it’s humorous language. Following are the three main features of his writing style:

The Humorous Language

O’ henry used colorful and rich language in his novels. He uses metaphor, irony, metonymy, paronomasia, and exaggeration to make his language appealing and rich. The use of these literary devices makes his writing humorous and amusing.

For example, in the novel The Cop and the Anthem, the readers can easily notice the humorous language. In the novel, he writes: “Soapy walked past the policeman sadly. He seemed doomed to liberty .” It is obvious that doomed has a negative connotation is usually followed by negative words like death, destruction, and failure, etc. whereas, liberty has a positive connotation. This strange use of the word makes the language funny as no one considers liberty as a negative word but Soapy, who is poor and homeless. For Soapy, liberty is something which means hunger, coldness, and death. He wants to live in winter to spend his winters. By using humorous language, O’Henry shows the miserable life of Soapy.

Surprising Endings

Another important characteristic of the writings of O’ Henry is the surprising and unexpected endings. Usually, the story starts in one course, and when the readers presume the ending, it unexpectedly turns to a different course. No matter if the surprise ending is sad, these are reasonable.

For example, in the short story “The Gift of Magi,” the narrator tells the importance of hair and the watch to the poor young couple.  The young couple does not waver in selling their most precious possessions to give each other Christmas gifts. Consequently, the gifts they bought for each other became useless by the end of the story; however, the most valuable things they have are not the material things but love. The readers are surprised at such endings. O’Henry ends his stories and novel with such surprising endings.

The Tearful Smile

Even though the plots of some of the stories and particularly the endings are gloomy and sad, the story also contains some hope, warmth, and true feelings. These things make the readers smile bitterly. The writing style with a blend of comedy and tragedy is called “tearful smile.”

The short story “A Gift of Magi” has a distinctive writing style: tearful smile. The poor couple in the story can only afford a flat at $8 per week. They have no money by “one dollar and eighty-seven cents” to exchange the Christmas gifts. The only one or two pennies they save is by flattening the vegetable man, butcher, and grocer. The miserable life of the poor couple is obvious to the readers and can be considered as tragic. But still, the couple has the atmosphere of comedy around them. Because of their understanding and love for each other, the miseries do not overwhelm them completely.

They are always thinking about one another and take care of each other’s happiness. Though at the end of the story, the gifts become useless, they both are moved by their love for each other. They have exchanged their precious processing with useless gifts; however, they still possess the most valuable thing in the world – love. The ending of the story makes the readers confused. They do not know whether to smile or cry.

If the readers smile, it is accompanied by tears. Even if they cry, the tears are the happy tears. Though their most valuable processions are gone, there still is the true love which is still there. In other words, it is impossible for readers to respond to the writing style of O’Henry in a typical way. The technique of tearful style is a magic style used by O’ Henry. Another example of this writing style is “The Last Leaf” by O’Henry.

Works Of O. Henry

Short stories.

• The Gift of Magi
• A Retrieved Reformation
• The Green Door
• A Service of Love
• The Last Leaf
• The Ransom of Red Chief
• The Cop and the Anthem
• The Furnished Room
• Memoirs of a Yellow Dog