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Sandeep Parajuli

Dr. Sterling

ENGL 1301

14 March 2017

The Reasons Behind the Tragedy in O.Henrys Cactus

O. Henry, a writer known for his wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and clever twist

endings (Kucher), shows how one small detail could matter in changing the whole future. The

Cactus is a short story with the themes of love, envy, and egotism. It serves with a twist ending,

for which most works of O. Henry are known. Similar works can be found in O. Henrys other

stories, such as The Gift of the Magi, in which Della ends up selling her hair to buy a chain for

the watch, and Jim sells his watch to buy a comb for Dellas hair (Henry, The Gift). Certain

negligible situations develop into significant factors that ultimately decide the tragic fate of the

protagonist. The problems experienced by the characters can be divided into assumptions, self-

conflict, and misunderstanding, and these are the reasons behind the tragedy in this short story.

The writer cleverly uses the usual daily occurrences to fulfill his purpose.

The story starts with O. Henry describing how time is purely relative. Trysdale, the

protagonist of the story, is standing by a table, staring at the cactus, and thinking about what had

happened. The cactus represents one of the main objects in the story that helps the writer reach

his final objective, a twist ending. Trysdales friend, the brother of the bride, offers him a drink,

which Trysdale rejects. Trysdale still reminisces about the last few hours. Scarifying retrospect

(Henry, The Cactus) of what had happened; the ministers words were still flying around in his

mind, while the minister bound the bride to the groom. Not knowing the reason for why he had

lost her, Trysdale wonders about the past. They had never had a single fight. She had exalted him
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with many talents, and he had accepted them all. Captain Carruthers, an admirer of Trysdale, had

unequivocally awarded him with the talent of having ability to speak Spanish. Even the fact, not

being true, when came out from her mouth, Trysdale accepted it with pride. When Trysdale was

waiting for the answer to his proposal, he received a strange cactus of some species with a label.

He did not know what to make of it. After two evenings, he and the bride met for a dinner. She

had an eager look at him, while he was waiting for her explanation. She took her cue and turned

to snow and ice (Henry, The Cactus). Suddenly, Trysdale heard his friends voice, who was

still in the same room as him. Later, the brides brother saw the cactus and started talking about

it. When Trysdale asked if he knew the species, the brother replied that it was in Spanish. It is

called Ventomarme, which translates in English to Come and take me.

Assumptions played one of the main roles in the story. Captain Carruthers, one of Trysdales

admirers, assumes that Trysdale can speak Spanish. Trysdale did speak some words, here and

there, from the hotchpotch at the back of the dictionaries (Henry, The Cactus), but Captain

Carruthers excelled this mere hotchpotch to high-level scholarship. This was the main

assumption that changed the tide of the story in later part. Other assumptions were of secondary

importance. When Trysdale thought that he did not get the answer, he assumed that the consent

he saw in her eyes was not real. He waited for the explanation at the dinner. Still, he thought that

when she was at altar, the reason of her paleness was her love for Trysdale. Therefore, he must

have thought that she loved him all along. Lastly, she turned to snow and ice because she

assumed that Trysdale did not want her (Henry, The Cactus. She had already declared her love

through the cactus, but when she looked eagerly at Trysdale at the dinner and did not get any

answer, she took her cue.

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O. Henry has written this story through the view of the protagonist. So, throughout the whole

story, one knows what the protagonist is going through, and one can find that there are different

conflicts that Trysdale experiences. Trysdale was so sure that his enchantment had made the

bride fall for him, but all his confidence died when he got a strange cactus instead of his answer.

Between that night and the night they met at dinner, he must have thought a thousand reasons for

why she did not give her answer. When he saw her pale face as she was going up to the altar, he

felt an unworthy, sullen exultation (Henry, The Cactus) that supported him. But, when he

saw the look she gave to the man ahead, his ego waned. He used to get the same look once. One

can only imagine what Trysdale might have gone through, after he heard what the name of the

cactus meant. He could be self-tormenting for what happened. For such a little thing, he had

fallen from the heart of his love. This fact might also cause a difference in the friendship of

Captain Carruthers and Trysdale. The bride also must have gone through as much self-conflict as

Trysdale, for she was also heartbroken by Trysdales silence.

Misunderstanding and silence gave the final touch to this dramatic story. The characters

misunderstood each other, and not one of them raised their voice against it. If one of them would

have objected once, all the things could have been different, and the story could have ended in a

different tone. The simplest one was Captain Carruthers misunderstanding that Trysdale could

have handled with ease. The entitlement that Trysdale could speak Spanish really charmed the

bride, so instead he went with the lie. The second misunderstanding was when Trysdale got the

cactus. This was the place where his ego got the best of him. Instead of asking why he got the

cactus, he focused on the fact that he did not get an answer. Third was the misunderstanding of

the bride. On their meeting at the dinner, she took the silence of Trysdale as her answer and shut

her emotions off. There was misunderstanding on both sides, and no one spoke up. This also
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happens in peoples daily lives. Sometimes people let their emotions run them instead of using

any logic. The characters could have avoided the tragedy with some logic, but they let their

emotions get the best of them.

O. Henry has successfully generated an interesting story with the mediocre daily occurrences.

The protagonist must be traumatized at the ending as he might see everything that happened as

his fault. The assumptions and misunderstanding played their parts, to which the characters did

not object and got the unwanted result. Overall, this story resembles the situations that happen

every hour somewhere around the world. The same issues have broken up uncountable

relationships, may they be relationship of lovers, friends, or families.

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Works Cited

Henry, O. The Gift of the Magi. Literature Network, Literature Network, www.online-

literature.com/o_henry/1014/. Accessed 25 Mar. 2017.

Henry, O. The Cactus. Short Stories and Classic Literature, American Literature, 23 May

2016, americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/short-story/the-cactus. Accessed 24 Mar.

2017.

Kucher, Marina. English Stylistics. English Stylistics, English Stylistics, 1 Jan. 1970,

kuchermarina4.blogspot.com/2013/05/o.html. Accessed 25 Mar. 2017.