Jan 07, 2011 03:16 PM
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In my 7th to 12th Standard English Textbooks, there’re lots of stories (‘Mr. Know All’, ‘On my 70th Birthday’, ‘The Gift of Magi’, ‘After 20 years’ etc) that I really liked and the idea of them still lingers in my mind. Since in those days I wasn’t that freak about books and literature, so lost tracks of their authors and all. So when I found 4 of those cherished stories in “Best of O Henry”, I’d no option but to go for it, and it really presented me with a gratifying journey back to those memorable days of my life.
‘THE BEST OF O HENRY’ is filled with 20 tales of master short storyteller who have allured the mind of readers for such a long time. These stories are funny, poignant, touching and very human in content and, as is with works of O Henry, all of them end with an unexpected twist.
Language is bit difficult to grab (with some difficult words that may require you to consult Dictionary and old writing style) at the start but after 1 or 2 stories, one can easily adjust to O Henry’s kind of writing, which is both funny as well as moving at times. Now, without wasting any more words let me get straight into the tales in the order of my penchant.
ROADS OF DESTINY: Longest and most intriguing story of the book. David Mignot (poet by choice and shepherd by luck) after a fight with Yvonne, his love interest, leaves village (Vernoy) for Paris to be a poet of name and fame or atleast to be someone. After travelling for 3 leagues, he reached a point where road diverts into two branches, so he had 3 options, take left; take right or go back to village. 3 sub-stories then predict his destiny based on the road he picks. Each road leads him into a different kind of life but the ultimate destiny that awaits him is same. This one is wonderfully written and based on French backgrounds of the times of kings and queens.
THE LAST LEAF: A young woman suffering from pneumonia believes that she’ll die when the last leaf from the Ivy vine outside her room will fall. A painter at the sunset of his age still believes that he’s going to create a masterpiece. Story is about, how they both play an important role in each other’s life for fulfillment of their destinies.
THE PENDULUM: We take things for granted, esp. the love and care of dear ones and it’s only when they depart or leave us that we really appreciate their true value. But what happens, if after this awareness they come back in our life and give us another chance, do we really care more towards them, do we really give them time and love they deserve. This story explains it all in a very beautiful way.
THE COP AND THE ANTHEM: With the coming of winter homeless and moneyless Soapy knows that it’d be hard to sleep on a bench in a park on cold harsh nights, so he decides to have a break and have a visit to ‘Island’ (Jail) for 3 months, and he must get arrested for that. So he make use of all possible tricks (Eating free food in a Restaurant, theft etc). But will he get arrested? Yes he does, but how!
THE GIFT OF MAGI: Who doesn’t know of this classic tale? Its X’mas time and Jim and Della, husband and wife, don’t have enough money to buy for each other, the gift they intended too. Jim wants to gift Della a set of combs that she so longed for and Della want to gift him an expensive chain for his precious watch. Love is the ultimate gift, love in our heart is more valuable than any gift that we can give to our loved ones; this story has a great lesson to teach.
THE GREEN DOOR: This one is for adventurers of top class. Those who try to find reason for all that happens to them. Rudolf is one such adventurer, one day while passing through a building, an African passes him an advertisement card which has nothing but “The Green Door” written on it. To his amazement, all other people have been passed the card for a Dentist Shop, so he gives it a retry but African again passes him a card with ‘The Green Door’ on it. So begins the adventure of Rudolf in search of the Green Door. This story demonstrates GOD’s strange ways of making us help people in need.
LOST ON DRESS PARADE: A sweet romantic encounter between a young man and a woman in a situation that depicts both of them in the opposite of their real status. Towers Chandler saves $1 every week from his income and after every 10 weeks enjoys an evening of extravagance on the Broadway. On one of those evening – dressed in his lavish suit, he helps Marian (ankle twisted) on a street, and invites her for a dinner with him. What follows is a nice lovely conversation, until he starts bragging to show off. It ends with twist that’s so often used in the stories and movies for quite a number of times.
AFTER TWENTY YEARS: Bob and Jimmy, two friends, before parting to become something in the big bad world, made a promise to see each other again after 20 years, at exactly the same place and at same time. Bob is back, will he find Jimmy there?
A RETRIEVED REFORMATION: Jimmy Valentine - a seasoned thief who can break any lock in the world – while on one of his job away from his usual hunting ground meets Annabelle outside the bank falls in love. He changes his profession and name for her and within a year finds himself being the loving husband of Annabelle. But, as they say, you can’t leave your grimy past behind, soon police discovers of his whereabouts with new name. One day he finds himself in a difficult situation, when daughter of his sister-in-law locks herself in a new safe of the bank and there is no way to open, except by his genius talents as lock breaker. Will he do it and reveal his true identity, and loose the entire good name he has earned and, most of all, his lovely wife.
CONFESSIONS OF A HUMORIST: Have you ever thought where from comedians like Raju Srivastava, Sunil Pal etc get their stuff of jokes and funny comments; you may find an answer in this one. The Protagonist, after discovering his huge talents as Humorist, leaves his job as book keeper and starts writing jokes and short columns for a newspaper. But soon he runs short of creative ideas with any spontaneity and finds himself looking for content, in the conversations with his friends, wife and kids. What a miserable characters, Humorist are, going by this confession. J
MAKES THE WHOLE WORLD KIN: Those who’ve something common between them often find reasons to be friendly. A burglar finds the victim of his theft suffering from the same ailment - as he does, Rheumatism. What follows is a long discussion on their history of treatment and big list of medicines they’d used to no avail.
THE SOCIAL TRIANGLE: In this world, no two people think alike and when the gap is of social status we often tend to like what we don’t have. Ikey a poor man, who works as a tailor’s apprentice is huge follower and fan of local politician Billy; Billy, on the other hand, is fond of Duyckink for his richness and social status; and Duyckink, who has all the money, is into reform and find solace in the company of poor people like Ikey. What a triangle!!
THE FURNISHED ROOM: The haunting story of the package. A young man, in search of the woman he loves, reaches a strange town with strange kind of people living in weird houses. There he takes a room on rent ‘The Furnished Room’ and is almost sure that the girl he’s looking for has stayed there. The grand description of the house esp. the room is highlight of this one.
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