BESTSELLER

BY O HENRY
Sydney Porter (1862 -1910)
 He wrote about the lives of the common people of New
York
 Their wishes and aspirations
 Problems and dilemmas
 His stories are known for their sudden twists in the plot
 Unexpected endings
 The play of grim humour and irony

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF HIS

STORIES
 Analyze the plot
 Analyze the characters.
 Evaluate the protagonist’s assessment of
Bestsellers.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE
 The Meanings of
 Philistine- a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts.
 Chateau Margaux, - a type of wine
 Flannel cake-A flannel cake is a type of pancake, but the recipe often specifies
that the eggs are to be separated and the whites beaten before adding, so
maybe flannel cakes are a bit lighter and fluffier than other pancakes.
 Cottage pudding-As for the term “cottage,” it probably identified this dish as
simple and affordable — suitable for farmers or laborers who lived in modest
cottages.
 Swell- very good looking person, excellent.
 Portcullis- portcullis is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in
medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood,
metal
 Mitrailleuse- A mitrailleuse is a type of volley gun with barrels of rifle calibre
that can fire either all rounds at once or in rapid succession.
 a yataghan- a Turkish  saber having a doubly curved blade, concave toward the
hilt, and a hilt with a prominent pommel and no guard.

MORE WORDS
A PORTICULLIS

A PORTICULLIS
Mitrailleuse-
yataghan
 Find the word from the text which means,
 prank or trifle
 Clowns
 To do very well
 Someone one is compatible with

WORD ATTACK
 Didoes ( last para of section 2)
 capers. To cut a caper means a funny act.
 Bully ( first para of secrion 3)
 Affinity ( Section 3, para 3)

WORD ATTACK ANSWERS

 Kid McCoy, byname of Charles McCoy, original name Norman Selby,
(born Oct. 13, 1873, Rush county, Ind., U.S.—died April 18, 1940, Detroit,
Mich.),
 Love levels all ranks,' 
 "but these kind of love-stories are rank—
 Distinguish between the two meanings of the word ‘rank’?
 In the first one Love is seen as a leveler. When one falls in love, he does not
consider the rank or social position of his beloved.
 In the secondsentence, the word ‘ranl’ means rotten or bad. Pescud opines that
love stories described in bestsellers are bad.
 Schutzenfestenstein is a fictitious character who has been captured by the
traitors. The hero of the novel tells his lady love that he may  not have riches
but is brave to sace S from his captors

REFERENCES
 Charles Dana Gibson was an American illustrator. He was best known for his
creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and
independent Euro-American woman
 Pullman class-In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping
cars that were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company
from 1867 to December 31, 1968
 Roscoe Conkling (October 30, 1829 – April 18, 1888) was an American lawyer and
Republican politician who represented New York in the United States House
of Representatives and United States Senate.
 Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane
form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, ...

REFERENCES
 What do you think of bestsellers?
 Talk about a bestseller that you have read.
 Why does Pescud not like them?
 Does the story of his life resemble the bestseller that he hurled to the ground.
 How did Pescud attain success in life and love?

TIME TO TALK
 Working in groups of four, write an article on the following :The elderly seek
attention and company from younger members of their family. They are eager
to listen and long to share their life experiences. John A Pescud is not only
respectful but also very patient with Colonel Allyn, Jessie’s father. As a
reporter, write an article for a newspaper, on the importance of the elderly in
our lives.

TASKS
PLENARY
Summarise the main ideas of the story.