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Giovanni Leguizamon

Mr. Vigil

British Lit./ Comp.

14 March 2018

The Gift of O. Henry

William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, is an American short

story writer famously known for several of his works, including The Gift of the Magi, After

Twenty Years, The Ransom of Red Chief, and The Last Leaf. He has written nearly six hundred

stories and has published 13 books. In 1896, he was accused of theft and embezzlement of funds

from the bank and was later put in jail for 5 years. The reasoning behind his name change was to

prevent his readers from knowing that he was once in prison. Though behind bars, he managed to

publish 12 stories in order to provide for his daughter Margaret. The two short stories, The Gift

of the Magi and After Twenty Years, provide evidence as to how O. Henry’s writings represent

his life and symbolize the events that shaped his persona, all while showcasing his specific style

of writing and why he writes stories with surprising and twisted endings.

William Sydney Porter was born on September 11, 1864 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

In his early life, he experienced traumatic events such as losing his mother, Jane Porter, to

tuberculosis. Growing up he always had a book in his hand, reading novels such as One

Thousand and One Nights. He attended elementary school and secondary school until he was

about fifteen years of age. After schooling, he began to work for his uncle at his drugstore, later

becoming a licensed pharmacist. However, he did not let his creativity to diminish with this new

job; instead, he sketched out customers, showing off his artistic abilities. At the age of 20 he

moved to Austin for a change in scenery and hopes of improving his health. Here he continued to
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work as a pharmacist, but on his down time was very active and not afraid to show his natural

talent in the arts, music, and story-telling.

As a young bachelor, Porter met a woman named Athol whom he grew fond of even

though she had the same illness that took his mother. This caused a lot of controversy with

Athol’s family. Despite these factors, William Porter married her. His wife bore him two

children, however, only one survived, that being his daughter Margaret Worth Porter. In order to

provide for his family, Porter took up a job as a bank teller for the National Bank of Austin. Here

he was accused of embezzlement and was later tried in court. To avoid imprisonment, Porter fled

Austin, but soon after returned because of his wife’s sickness. Returning to Austin eventually

led to Porter’s sentencing. During this jail time, his wife Athol died of tuberculosis. Porter

served five years in prison where he continued to write stories in order to provide money for his

daughter. During his time in jail, he published fourteen books with many different pen names:

his signature one being O. Henry. His stories captivated many readers because of their ironic

humor and unforeseen endings. The North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame explained that

“William Sydney Porter’s stories follow a standard formula, dealing with commonplace events

in the lives of ordinary people and arriving at a surprise ending through coincidence.” In other

words, O. Henry’s writing style is unique because it discusses the lives of everyday people with

unpredictable endings that can actually occur. Evidently, O. Henry’s writing is a destination

where readers are able to envision characters similar and relatable to themselves, thus making the

author popular amongst common people.

In one of his most famous short stories, The Gift of the Magi, O. Henry uses imagery to

paint a picture of the lives of two lovers. He uses descriptive language to connect these two,

economically poor young people. Throughout the short story, he explains the life of a poverty-
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stricken young woman who only has one dollar and eighty-seven cents in her name, which she

hopes to spend on a Christmas gift for her husband. Furthermore, O. Henry continues by

elaborating on the journey she takes in order to buy him the best possible gift. To achieve her

goal, she sacrifices her hair to earn twenty dollars. With the newfound cash, she buys him a

chain to go along with his pocket watch. However, just like all of O. Henry’s stories, there is

always a twist. After coming home from a long day at work, the husband sees his wife as he

enters:

Jim stopped inside the door. He was quiet as a hunting dog when it is near a bird. His eyes

looked strangely at Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not

understand. It filled her with fear. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor anything she had been

ready for. He simply looked at her with that strange expression on his face. “Jim dear, she

cried… I had my hair cut off and sold it… I couldn’t live through Christmas without giving

you a gift.” (O. Henry 4)

His strange expression did not derive from disappointment with her hair; he had that expression

because his gift to her was a jeweled comb and to afford this present he had to sell his watch.

Ironically, both these lovers gave up one of their most prized possessions to buy materialistic

items that they believed would appeal each other. O. Henry creates an interesting twist on the

idea of sacrificing for loved ones, a concept that his readers find in their own lives. He chooses

to write this short story to show the lengths people go to make their loved ones happy. This idea

is similar to the way O. Henry continued to write books in prison in order to support his

daughter. Regardless of negative circumstances, O. Henry demonstrates how love will prevail.
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Another famous short story from O. Henry’s collection is After Twenty Years. Similar to

The Gift of the Magi, this story involves two people with an emotional connection. However, the

difference is that in this instance, they are longtime friends, rather than love interests, who are

planning to meet after twenty years to see how life had treated them. The story takes place late at

night in front of a small business where a cop named Jimmy is patrolling and notices a man, Bob,

standing at the door of the shop. They begin to casually discuss, and after a while Jimmy the cop

walks away. Bob is the one of the character waiting to meet his friend after twenty years, and to

his surprise, the friend shows up. They start to walk and chat about their lives and how things

have been. To Bob’s surprise, his “friend” begins to arrest him. It turns out that the cop named

Jimmy from the beginning of the story was Bob’s actual friend. Jimmy had noticed that Bob was

a wanted criminal, but he did not have the will to arrest him. Therefore, he got another police

officer to do so and he gave him a note:

You’ve been under arrest for ten minutes, Bob. Chicago cops thought you might be

coming to New York. They told us to watch for you… Bob: I was at the place on time. I

saw the face of the man wanted by Chicago cops. I didn’t want to arrest you myself. So, I

went and got another cop and sent him to do the job. JIMMY. (O. Henry 61)

From this quote it is easy to infer that O. Henry represents the criminal in the story. Henry did

not go to jail until he had to return to Austin to care for his sick wife. Bob is a symbol of Henry’s

story because he too comes back to be with a loved one, but is instead arrested because of his

friend Jimmy. Both Henry and Bob endured jail time after returning for those they cared for.

O. Henry’s writing technique is one that leaves readers in awe because of his

unpredictable endings that may be somewhat ironic. Throughout both stories he understands how
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to describe vividly enough to illustrate an image of what is going on in the story. Some literary

devices used in these short stories include imagery and irony. In The Gift of the Magi O. Henry

uses irony at the end of his story to add some humor:

Jim sat down and smiled. Della, said he, let’s put our Christmas gifts away and keep them

a while. They’re too nice to use now. I sold the watch to get the money to buy the combs.

And now I think we should have our dinner… the story of two children who were not wise.

Each sold the most valuable thing he owned in order to buy a gift for the other. (O. Henry

6)

The irony is that the couple both buy gifts that they eventually cannot use because they sold their

most valuable item to buy the present. The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica stated that

Henry’s “stories [express] the effect of coincidence on character through humor, grim or ironic

and often [have] surprise endings.” More specifically, the husband buys the wife a beautiful

comb for her hair, yet she has no hair to brush with because she sold it to buy his gift. His

writing style for each story tends to be ironic in order to reflect the odd sequence of events that

he experiences.

William Sydney Porter had overcome many hardships throughout his life, and it is

reflected in his writings, especially through his iconic use of surprise endings. In The Gift of the

Magi, the author exemplifies the unexpected turns in Porter’s life by using a stylistic technique,

which includes the use of irony, humor and unexpected endings. As for After Twenty Years, it

connects to the time in his life where he avoided jail time for many years in Austin, yet had to

return due to his sick wife. Needless to say, Porter successfully captivates his reader by creating
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storylines that appear real-to-life, as they have proven to be a reflection on his personal

experiences.
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Works Cited

Henry, O. After Twenty Years. Davis Publications, 1984.

---. The Gift of the Magi and Other Short Stories. Dover, 1992.

Ragan, Sam. “William Sydney Porter (O. Henry).” North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame RSS,

www.nclhof.org/inductees/1996-2/william-sydney-porter-o-henry/.

“William Sydney Porter Biography.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 2 Apr. 2014,

www.biography.com/people/william-sydney-porter-9542046.