
‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’
Sally Minogue considers how we should look at historical stereotyping and prejudice in classic
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Mar
29
Apr
05
The art of the short story is a refined one. The creation of a
satisfying narrative in miniature – in a few thousand words – is demanding and not easily achieved. However,
when a gem of a short tale is realised it has a greatness and power equal to
the most significant of novels. One of the masters of this genre was William
Sydney Porter, who signed his work with the nom
de plume O. Henry. It was in his youth when he was ready to submit a set of
stories in the hope of having them published that Porter decided to use a pen
name in case they were rejected. He read an account of a society function in
the local newspaper and chose the name of one of the guests, ‘Henry’ as his new
surname. He told a newspaper reporter in 1913 that he chose O as his initial
because ‘O is about the easiest letter written.’
Porter was born in
Greensboro, North Carolina on 11 September, 1862, the son of a doctor. As a young man he moved to Texas
to help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed, spending a couple
of years on a ranch - which gave him experience which he later utilised his western
stories - and then working in the land
office and in a bank in Austin. He began writing sketches at about the time of his
marriage to Athol Estes in 1887, and in 1894 he started a humorous weekly
paper, The Rolling Stone. It was during this period that his life took on the dramatic elements of his own fiction. He was
accused by the bank of embezzlement
and rather than face the charge, he fled the country and made his way to Honduras, with which the United States had no extradition
treaty at that time. He stayed there for six months, during which
time he wrote his first full collection of stories, Cabbages and Kings. It was in this volume, which depicted fantastic characters against exotic
Honduran backgrounds, that he coined the phrase ‘banana republic’. The book was not published until 1904.
News of his
wife’s fatal illness, however, took him back to Austin, and the lenient authorities did not process his case until after her
death. When convicted, Porter received the lightest
sentence possible, and in 1898 he entered the penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio; his term of imprisonment being shortened to three
years and three months for good behaviour. Working in the prison hospital, he
was able write to earn money for support of his daughter, Margaret. His stories
of adventure in the southwest U.S. and Central America were immediately popular with
magazine readers and gave him the encouragement to make writing his profession.
In 1902 O. Henry arrived in New York, a city he dubbed as ‘Baghdad on
the Subway.’ From December 1903 to January 1906 he produced a story a week for
the New York World, writing also for other publications. It is his New York tales which are perhaps his
most successful and best loved. He says in one these stories that, ‘in the big
city the twin spirits of Romance and Adventure are always abroad seeking worthy
wooers.’ It was in the collections The Four Million (1906) and The
Trimmed Lamp (1907) in particular that he explored the lives of the
multitudes of New York concerning their daily routines and dreams.
O.
Henry's stories frequently have surprise endings that enrich the narrative. In
his day he was referred to as the American answer to Guy
de Maupassant,
the French master of the short story. While both authors employed the technique
of the twist ending, Henry's stories were considerably more playful, less
sombre than Maupassant’s and are also known for their witty narration. Most of Henry's narratives are set in the
early 20th century, and deal with ordinary people such as policemen,
waitresses, clerks and shop assistants. This focus on the ordinary endeared his
work to readers. It is also true to note that while the stories are rooted in
the period in which they were written, their message and sentiments have a timeless
resonance. Take the story ‘The Gift of the Magi’, a heartwarming Christmas tale
about a young
couple, Jim and Della, who are short of money but desperately want to buy each
other a gift for Christmas. It would be very unfair of me give further details
of how this tale unfurls, only to say that it is a classic, the ending of which
is moving, sentimental and warmly humorous. In other words it bears that unique
Henry touch. Another favourite of mine is ‘The Last Leaf’, which
concerns a poor young woman who is seriously ill with pneumonia. She believes
that when the ivy vine on the wall outside her window loses all its leaves, she
will also die. Her neighbour Behrman, an artist, tricks her by painting a leaf
on the wall. Now read on for the surprising denouement.
But there are so many goodies: Henry wrote over four
hundred stories. It is a little known fact that in ‘The Caballero's Way’ (1907), Henry introduced
his most famous character, the Cisco Kid. In later film and TV depictions, the
Kid would be portrayed as a dashing adventurer, perhaps skirting the edges of
the law, but primarily on the side of the angels. In the original short story,
the only one by Henry to feature the character, the Kid is a murderous,
ruthless border desperado, whose trail is dogged by an heroic Texas Ranger. The
twist ending is, unusually for Henry, tragic.
O. Henry’s final years were
marred by illness. Unfortunately,
his personal tragedy was heavy drinking. By 1908, his health had deteriorated
and his writing dropped off accordingly. He died in 1910 of cirrhosis of the
liver, complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart. The funeral was held
in New York City, but he was buried in his home state of North Carolina. Despite
the dark and tragic end to his life, he will be not only remembered but revered
as a gifted short story writer and he left us a rich legacy of great stories to
enjoy.
If you have not had a dose of O. Henry, wait no longer.