PROOF OF THE PUDDING

ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT

ABOUT THE WRITERO. Henry (1862-1910) was an American writer who wrote short stories that are known to have twist endings.His real name was William Sidney Porter but he later changed the spelling to Sydney. He has written a number of short stories and there is even a ‘O. Henry award’ that is given to outstanding short stories. One of his best known stories is – ‘The gift of Magi’, which we had in our syllabus last year. In 1952, a film called ‘O. Henry’s full house’ was made, which featured five of his stories. The gift of Magi was one of those stories.

WHAT IS THE STORY ABOUT?

This story depicts a real life example of an irony. The story is about two old friends. One (Editor Westbrook) is a fairly well-to-do editor of the Minerva magazine and the other one (Mr. Dawe) is a fiction writer, who is struggling to get his work published. As we would learn in the story, Mr. Dawe and Mr. Westbrook used to be close friends at one time. They lived in the same neighborhood. But a hard time forced the Dawe family to leave the neighborhood and live in a flat in a shabby society.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WRITER AND THE EDITOR

Their relationship was not just the kind of relationships that an editor has with a writer. It was much more than that. The two families often went to theatres and dinners together. Mrs. Dawe and Mrs. Westbrook were the dearest of friends, and were ‘inseparable’, as quoted by Editor Westbrook in the story. He said, “we’re both lucky chaps to have such wives”

THE PLOT

Years later, Editor Westbrook is returning to his office after having lunch at his favorite corner of a Broadway hotel. On his way, he meets Mr. Dawe, the latter in a very poor looking condition. The editor is surprise at this unappealing look of the man he once knew closely. Mr. Dawe convinces the editor to sit on a ‘virulent bench’. It is at this point when we learn that a few works of Mr. Dawe had been rejected by Editor Westbrook years earlier when they were friends…

THE PLOT (continued…)

…Mr. Dawe and Editor Westbrook had a discussion on why Mr. Dawe’s work was rejected. We can find in many instances of the story that Mr. Dawe was struggling to make a living and was almost on the verge of starving him and his wife. According to the Editor, Mr. Dawes works were rejected by his magazine as those stories always had a strange unrealistic ending….

THE PLOT (continued..)

…The Editor pointed out one mistake. Mr. Dawe didn’t seem to stick to his writing style and always turned into a ‘photographer’ at the end of his stories. Mr. Dawe’s characters seemed to have a very normal expression of sorrow at a sudden, deep and tragic incident. According to Editor Westbrook, it wasn’t real. He said that during a sudden, tragic incident, the human heart calls forth a ‘proportionate’ expression of feeling…

THE PLOT (continued…)

…Mr. Dawe wasn’t convinced and thought of a plan to prove his point, on the condition that if he’s able to prove his point, his work would have to be published. It was 2:33pm. Mrs. Dawe wasn’t at home since morning, which was a perfect setup for Mr. Dawe to execute his plan…

THE PLAN

According to the plan, Mr. Dawe and Editor Westbrook would go to the former’s home. Mr. Dawe would write a note for his wife (Louise) saying that he has left her forever. After that, he and the editor would hide themselves in the dining-room ‘concealed by the portieres’, and from there, they would see how Mrs. Dawe reacts on reading the note. If she expressed sorrow in a normal way, Mr. Dawe’s theory would be proven. Otherwise if she reacts in a dramatic way, the Editor would have his point proven.

THE PLAN IS CARRIED OUT!

This plan wasn’t really something that the editor approved of, because it involved playing with Mrs. Dawe’s emotions. But he was finally convinced by Mr. Dawe who didn’t think of it as a cruel prank because success would mean that his work would be published and it would be good for both him and his wife. He described his wife as a ‘woman with a heart as strong as a ninety-eight-cent-watch’!

THE PLAN IS CARRIED OUT

The two men reach the shabby flat. Mr. Dawe is about to find a paper and some ink when he spots a note already written by Mrs. Dawe and left on the center-table for Mr. Dawe to read.

THE TWIST

The letter mentioned that Mrs. Dawe had left Mr. Dawe forever, as she wanted to earn something for her own. She also had a companion – Mrs. Westbrook, who had also got bored of having Mr. Westbrook as a husband whom she described as ‘phonograph, iceberg and a dictionary’! She had wished Mr. Dawe success at the end of the note.

THEIR REACTION

Mr. Dawe’s reaction – “My god, why have you given me this cup to drink? If she is false, then let the best gifts of the heavens (faith and love) become a joke for traitors and fiends”

Mr. Westbrook’s reaction – “Say, Shack (Mr. Dawe), isn’t that a hell of a note? Wouldn’t that knock you off your balance, Shack? Isn’t it hell, shack, isn’t it?”

THE CONCLUSION

Both men were wrong!! Mr. Dawe reacted in a dramatic way, which was by no means, ordinary.

And Mr. Westbrook reacted in the way you and I react on usual incidents. So, Mr. Westbrook reacted in the way Mr. Dawe had said in his theory and Mr. Dawe had reacted in the way Mr. Westbrook believed to be true.

WHAT DO WE LEARN?

There are many things one can learn from this story. Firstly, we learn that poverty creates a lack of self-esteem in a person. There are many instances in the story where Mr. Dawe feels no regret to show off his poverty and a sort of ‘I-have-accepted-this-condition’ attitude.

INSTANCES

When editor Westbrook tells Mr. Dawe to bring his wife to the Westbrook residence to have an ‘informal’ meal like the old times, Mr. Dawe says, “Later. When I get another shirt”

When Mr. Dawe tells Mr. Westbrook to sit on the ‘virulent’ bench, he says, “sit down. You won’t be disgraced. This bench is my office. I can’t come to yours because of my appearance.”

INSTANCES

When both men reach Mr. Dawe’s residence, Mr. Dawe says, “Get a chair if you can find one”

He also says, “while I hunt up pen and ink” So, he almost had to undergo a treasure hunting game to get hold of a pen and some ink.

WHAT ELSE DO WE LEARN?

We also learn that poverty makes some people, if not all, desperate to earn money. In this story, Mr. Dawe was ready to play with his wife’s emotions to prove his point, which, to him, seemed the only way to restore the comfort of life (although the wife turned out to be one step ahead of him later!)