O. Henry's Short Stories

    For many, there stands an impression that classical literature is uninteresting, boring, or just simply old. Many of us drop books simply because they seem too hard to read. Even though O. Henry has written several classical books, the Trimmed Lamp and Cabbages for Kings being some examples, I still find them quite interesting even if they are old. Rather than writing big long books, O. Henry has created collections of short stories. There is no one book full of his best stories; they are all spread amongst his work. One book in particular, the Four Million, has been noted as an excellent source for unexpected irony. In the Four Million, O. Henry portrays what could be an ironic miracle life of a civilian in New York during the twentieth century. These stories are short, therefore, making perfect bedtime stories.

    The stories all share the same sense of irony, but they still are written in a wide range of themes. For example, in “The Furnished Room,” a man seeking his love smells her perfume in a hotel room. He searches desperately for her, but after not being able to find her, he commits suicide. The landlady had not yet told him that a week earlier, his love had done the same thing. This story has a little bit of eeriness in it because of the ironic endings.

    Another story in the book is also one of O Henry's most notable stories, the Gift of the Magi. In this story, a couple wishes to buy grand gifts for each other for Christmas, but both do not have enough money to do this, therefore they both give up something dear to them in order to pay. It turns out that as she gives her hair, he buys her the pearl combs of her dreams. And as he sells his watch, she buys him a grand chain for it. Just like "Tobin's Hand", we see the witty play of fortunes and ironic ends. Interestingly enough, even though that o Henry uses this style repeatedly through the book, each ending is quit unique and unpredictable, even if you do know the general turn and expect an unexpected ending. That is the beauty of the book and the valued ability of the author.

    O. Henry’s writing style and his ability to create unpredictable irony is unique and entertaining characteristic. Almost all of the short stories have very ironic endings. For example, in the first story, Tobin’s Palm, a palmist relates Tobin’s future to him. Before seeing the palmist, Tobin tells about his lost love to his companion. After the séance, Tobin goes through a series of unfortunate events, as predicted by the palmist. At the end of the day he meets a man who was supposed to “bring great fortune to him.” The man seemed uninterested in Tobin or his companion until he decides that Tobin would be the perfect character for his story. In the end, Tobin and his companion are invited to dine with the man of fortune, and ironically, we find out that the man’s new maid is Tobin’s lost love.  

    As I was reading the story, I first thought that the great fortune prophesized by the palmist would come in the form of fame or material wealth. Therefore, I found the given end very surprising and ironic. The following stories are presented in a similar manner. In fact, the plots of the stories seem to follow a basic principal of a circle where the beginning flows into the end, which in turn comes back to something in the beginning.