Chapter II: Introduction: , WITH EMPHASIS ON CHARACTERS. Why is so long an

introductory paragraph given to Burnaby?

Study the comment on guests and hostess, and observe that the English financier must have an important part in the ensuing action. “Sir John had inherited an imagination.” Is this stated characteristic proved by subsequent disclosures?

How is Burnaby’s entrance emphasized?

“She was interested by now” (page 48), an old device and an excellent one for catching the reader’s attention. The logic is this: “If that fascinating lady is interested, there must be a reason.” Sir Conan Doyle employs it often in the Sherlock Holmes stories, when Sherlock asks for a repetition of a situation supposedly just presented. It is thus put before the reader who assumes that it must be worth hearing once, if Sherlock will hear it twice.

What reason exists for Burnaby’s story as a predecessor to Sir John’s? Does it motivate the telling of Sir John’s? If so, does it also prejudice the reader in favor of one or the other men? Does it incite curiosity as to the squawman with a promise that curiosity will be satisfied? Suppose that some other cause produced Sir John’s story and the reader were left to surmise what became of Bewsher. Would sympathy be with Bewsher in an increased or diminished degree?

Why is Burnaby’s story briefer than Sir John’s? Would it be possible to reverse the comparative lengths with a new story-value? Try telling Bewsher’s story as he might tell it to Burnaby at the time of the tea incident.

How is point given to the squaw man’s name? What is the significance of the broken champagne glass? Have literary artists often fallen back on a broken glass by way of expressing emotion? Is it true to real life? Does it _seem_ true in fiction?

Is there sufficient suggestion that Bewsher’s story is connected with that of Masters to justify initial interest in Sir John’s narrative? (See the dénouement of Burnaby’s.)

Where did you receive a hint that Masters is identifying himself with Morton?

THE HEART OF THE WHOLE STORY: MASTERS’ STORY. Notice that Mr. Burt recognizes, as all artists do, the various climaxes of the narrative. This is indicated in what Sir John calls “high lights.”

_The Initial Impulse_ (_The “first high light”_): Morton’s plan to
cultivate the friendship of Bewsher.

_Steps toward Dramatic Climax_: The importance of himself comes home
to Morton (“The second high light”). “The third did not come until
fifteen years later” (Bewsher has been in India; Morton, in a Banking
House in London): Morton desires a wife, luxury, and social standing.
Bewsher turns up; he and Morton fall in love with the same girl.
Bewsher leads, but he needs money. The “third high light,” then,
after fifteen years, is Bewsher’s supplication. Morton makes him a
rich man, but does not promise to keep him so.

_Dramatic Climax_: Bewsher forges a check, and hands it to Morton in
part payment of his indebtedness. Morton subsequently shows the check
to the girl and then burns it before her eyes. He thus wins her, not
aware that her heart is broken. Bewsher disappears.

_Climax of Action_: “The fourth high light” Morton marries the girl.

_Dénouement_: He suffers the realization that he can never be a
gentleman; he has learned that the girl does not love him.

What statement of Sir John indicates a recognition of the turning
point in the rivalry between him and Bewsher? Show that this outer or
external dramatic climax is the counterpart of the “third high light.”

_Dénouement of the Enveloping Narrative_: After Sir John and his
wife motor away, Burnaby explains the relations between the real and
the fictive characters. What is the significance of his appellation,
“timber-wolf”?

What is the office of Mrs. Malcolm’s closing remark?

“We are told that all writing is a process of elision, but no one seems to go further and say that short-story writing is the process of ‘hitting the high spots’ plus the art of making the intervals between the ‘high spots’ not only interesting but of such a quality that the ‘high spots’ do not seem strained and unnatural. I find that this is mostly done by the turn of a sentence, or by an apparently adventitious aphorism, or a paragraph of general comment.

“I do prefer the ‘I’ narrator greatly. 1st. It does away with the ‘Smart Alec,’ omniscient atmosphere of the third person, which seems to me the bane of most American short-stories--the author gives an impression of groping for his story, just as a person in real life gropes when he narrates an incident. Conrad does this, and does it so beautifully. It seems to me that a ‘thickness’ is achieved that can be got in no other way. This, of course, does not apply to a novel, because in a novel the ‘thickness’ is achieved by mere length.

“Secondly, as you say, it enables one to handle surprise more readily.

“Thirdly, the story can be told in colloquial language, and not in literary language, which makes it, so it seems to me, more poignant. What experience I have had convinces me that the poignancy of life is invariably expressed by silences and by broken words. The French know so well how to use dashes, for instance.

“Fourthly, and this is not paradoxical, despite the colloquial language, one has a slight feeling of aloofness from the characters or sees them through the medium of a third person; and this, it seems to me, is the way one sees things in real life....

“The story ordinarily comes to me as an incident or a theme, sometimes as a character in a certain incident. Then usually nothing happens for a long time. If I try to think about it too much, so much the worse. In about a month, I’ll think about it again and then, as a rule, it begins to evolve. A great deal of the incident occurs to me while I am actually writing.”--_Maxwell Struthers Burt._

MA’S PRETTIES

GENERAL. “Realism isn’t popular--is it?” Half assertively this inquiry comes from a certain fiction writer. It is, perhaps, in proportion as the story has obvious significance. This sketch about “Ma’s Pretties” reflects in miniature the whole of an American community, but in a manner which escapes him who seeks and appreciates only surface values. It is the kind of writing which acquires relative importance when placed alongside examples which reflect other communities, other nationalities.

The narrative is not a short-story, in the technical sense. Mr. Buzzell feels this to be no adverse criticism, since he says himself, “I am not particularly concerned about the short-story as such. I am using a short narrative form as a means of expression simply because this form seems the most natural to me. There are many things which I wish to record from my own particular slant. It is to accomplish this, rather than to produce short-stories, that I am writing. Naturally, then, I am not particularly concerned with the technique of the short-story, but on the other hand I am very much concerned with the technique of effective writing and have spent several years of hard work trying to perfect my craftsmanship.”

CLASSIFICATION. A realistic sketch, with emphasis on the situation: Mrs. Brooks dies; her “pretties” are divided.

THE CHARACTERS. What is the chief method of the author for revealing character? How is the character of the dead woman indicated? What can you say of the dialogue by way of indicating feeling over (1) “Ma’s” illness, (2) her death? Describe the daughters.

THE MAIN SCENE. Is the story aptly entitled with respect to the main incident? What universal theme is struck in this well-developed scene between the girls in “Ma’s” room?

“The things enumerated in ‘Ma’s Pretties’ as found in her clothespress were part of the things my mother found in my grandmother’s clothespress after the latter’s death. I had to reject many items of course, and rearrange those which I selected as typical. You may be sure I spent a couple of weeks of hard work before I was satisfied with this piece of writing.”--_Francis Buzzell._

SUBORDINATE SCENES. Which scene do you regard as second in importance?

“The building up of the scene in which Ben Brooks carries the earrings in to ‘Ma’ was also a bit of conscious technique. I worked on that paragraph many hours before I was satisfied with the names of the flowers and had my tonal values right.”--_Francis Buzzell._

* * * * *

Compare this story with Donn Byrne’s “The Wake.” Apart from the narrative element, do you receive a decided impression of national contrast?

Study the list of “pretties,” as you studied the list of objects, etc., in Miss Babcock’s “The Excursion.” Try to discover, here as there, their value in the reflection of reality. Certain small objects connote what larger objects? “Ma’s” switch, for example? Apply this question to your consideration of each detail. Have these apparently insignificant details a value similar to that of synecdoche and metonymy?

LONELY PLACES

GENERAL. A technically well-wrought piece of realism, both in its adherence to the point of view, and in the rationalization of events. When it was first published, it bore the (editorial) sub-title, “A Story of Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman.” “I assure you,” says Mr. Buzzell, “that woman’s inhumanity to woman never entered my mind in writing this story. If readers find a moral in any of my stories they can have it without question; I didn’t put it there and I’ll lay no claim to it.” What does this statement indicate with regard to Mr. Buzzell’s ideas of art?

STARTING POINT, AND DEVELOPMENT. “The beginning of a poem, I assume from my own experience, is a mood, a state of feeling, in the poet. He is stirred by something and sets to work to express it. Well, then, this is the way a story begins in me. As a result, the first tangible thing I have is the atmosphere.... I remembered that there were in Almont (Romeo) a number of ‘grand’ houses, standing far back from the road, and occupied by lonely women. I saw these houses buried in trees in summer, smelled the wild honeysuckle, watched the wrens flying in and out of the old teapots hung in the vines of the dining-room porch. In the winter I saw these houses buried in snow.”

Mr. Buzzell then wondered why these women had never married and concluded that all the young men of their generation had gone to the city to work.

“The next step was to select a definite setting. For this I took an old house which I knew thoroughly--my Grandfather’s house--the Orin Crisman house in ‘Addie Erb and her Girl Lottie.’ In this house I placed a woman not quite forty years old and I named her Abbie Snover. Then I gave her Old Chris as a companion. I had reason for placing Old Chris in the house with Abbie aside from an actual plot requirement. I placed him there because I wanted to impress my reader in the beginning with the loneliness of Abbie Snover’s environment rather than with her utter lack of companionship. The actual beginning of plot, I think, was when I decided to take Old Chris away from her at the end, so as to accentuate her loneliness. In searching for a cause that would remove the old man I decided to resort to gossip. The next question was how to start the gossip. It seemed most natural to have the children begin it. But how start the children? Abbie Snover and Old Chris had lived alone in that big house for fifteen years without any gossip; something would have to happen to start it. So I decided that Abbie would have to antagonize the children in some way. To be able to antagonize the children would necessarily require some kind of personal contact with them, so I had the children form a habit of going to her door after cookies. Then I invented the orange tree to give Abbie a reason for driving them out of the house.

“The rest was simple until I sent Abbie out of the big house on her journey to Mile Corners. It wasn’t until I reached this point that I decided to let the reader know that Old Chris was dead; that Abbie’s journey through the snow was to be a fruitless one; that fate had robbed her of her victory. If I had been concerned with writing just a short story I would have given my readers the desired surprise by withholding Old Chris’s death from them until Abbie found it out. What I wanted to do was to make them feel Abbie’s tragedy every step of the way along that country road.”

The difference between the realist’s and the romanticist’s methods may be seen by a consideration of what a romanticist would have done at any stage of the action. For example, Abbie’s kindness to the children would have been the cause, not of her undoing, but rather (under other circumstances) of her rehabilitation. The business of the orange tree, again, might have been used to turn the youngsters against her, as Mr. Buzzell has used it, but in this event then the sender of the orange tree would have arrived on the scene and by his masterfulness properly subdued the gossip.... Again, the romanticist would have saved the surprise, undoubtedly, for the reader as well as for Abbie. He would have desired to create the shock, and leave reflection to each reader.

Try telling the story from Mrs. Perry’s angle.

What is the struggle? Is it active or passive, or does it pass from one to the other condition? Are the stages of the plot well-marked, from initial impulse to climax of action?

What is the atmosphere? What details of setting, character, and action harmonize in the totality of effect? What notes of contrast but serve to intensify the prevailing mood?

Has the author attempted to enlist the reader’s sympathy for Abbie? Is his work finer and truer, as a result?

THE WAKE

GENERAL. “The Wake” suggests and pictures the customs of the Irish following a death; at the same time it tells a story. For this latter reason it is superior, as a narrative, to “Supers,” which emphasizes the picture, the condition. Emphasis is placed on the situation, with a gradual heightening of interest as to a suggested outcome. The young wife of an elderly husband lies dead; she has loved and been loved by a younger man; the younger man (Kennedy) has declared, “If anything ever happens to that girl at your side, Michael James, I’ll murder you!” And now as Michael sits in dumb misery, he awaits the fulfillment of the threat. The passive situation is merged into the dramatic moment by the advent of Kennedy, who seeing the dead woman, foregoes his intention.

SETTING. The locale, according to Mr. Byrne, is Ulster, North Ireland. What is the length of the action?

GERMINAL IDEA. “I wished to write a story of an Irish wake which was neither utterly sordid, nor indelicately funny.” Is the resultant mood, atmosphere, in harmony with this intention?

THE ACTION. Where is your interest first aroused? At what point does the principle of suspense operate to intensify interest? Is the dénouement satisfactory? Is the action that of a “triangle” story? Compare it, in this regard, with the action of “The Water-Hole.” How is the love interest submerged in “The Wake”? How is the hostility Kennedy bears James overcome? What bearing on the action and on the theme has the blind misery of James?

THE CHARACTERS. From whose point of view is the story presented? Who is the main character and why? Is there in any way a suggestion that Death, as a character, controls? Or is the influence of the dead woman dominant?

THE THEME. In stating the theme, refer to the germinal idea and comment on the author’s success.

* * * * *

Compare with this narrative, Chapter IX of Patrick MacGill’s “The Rat-Pit.” Mr. MacGill’s setting is also in Ulster: Donegal.

It should be added for the benefit of the student who resents, or finds hampering, an insistence on short-story type, that Mr. Donn Byrne believes there isn’t any such thing as the short-story. “A story is a story whether it’s a novel of 100,000 words or a short magazine affair. There is no difference in technic between a 4,000 word writing, like ‘The Wake’ and any of my big 15,000 worders--‘Sargasso Sea,’ for example, or ‘A Treasure upon Earth.’ Get a worth while idea and make your narrative interesting. That’s the only formula for any piece of fiction. The short-story is to the novel what the chip mashie shot is to the full St. Andrew Swing, the same identical stroke used effectively for shorter distance.”

Bring arguments to bear for or against Mr. Donn Byrne’s statement. Be sure you have read widely before drawing conclusions, and have studied the technique of the stories and novels read.

THE GREAT AUK

SETTING. The locale is New York City; the most important scene, in the Scudder Theater. The time is the present.

One of Irvin Cobb’s most remarkable powers is that of picturing so vividly a setting that the reader cannot but read and cannot but remember. What is the explanation of this astonishing success? First of all, Mr. Cobb is a keen observer. When he is out with his wife, according to her he sees ten times more than she does, yet she thinks she is seeing all there is to see. “When he was writing ‘The County Trot’ Mrs. Cobb marveled at his life-like pictures of the Kentucky characters, all of whom he had really known. She asked him how it was possible for him to remember their faces and mannerisms after the lapse of so many years. He said: ‘Why, I can close my eyes and see the knotholes that were in the fence around that fairground.’” This quotation indicates a second requisite--accurate memory. The third requisite is hard work, a condition through which Mr. Cobb believes all success must come. “When writing a story his object is to draw sharp pictures that will never leave the reader. To do this, he thinks out the minutest details of that picture, not that he will use those details, but that he himself may really see the picture as he writes.” The fact that he will not “use all those details” which observation and memory have supplied means that he has the ability to select. And, finally, he knows how to handle an ample vocabulary.

PLOT.

_Initial Impulse_: The need for a “grandfather” motivates the search
of Verba and Offutt. (A search, a type of “chase,” serves for a
strong story-backbone.)

_Steps to the Dramatic Climax_: 1. The cab-ride to Bateman’s old
haunts. 2. Finding the Scudder theatre closed. 3. The visit to
the wine-shop; the clerk’s account of Bateman. 4. The ragged boy
volunteers information. 5. He leads them to the side entrance of the
theatre, into the gloom and decay of which they make their way.

_Dramatic Climax_: The urchin whistles; the curtain rolls up; old
Bateman appears. The search is now at an end. Bateman is found.
The new cause of suspense lies in curiosity over ensuing events.
To satisfy this curiosity, the author extends the dramatic climax
moment. The whole scene at the theatre is a prolonged climax,
gradually revealing the old man’s unfitness, even as it soars to a
higher emotional climax. The story structure may be roughly indicated
by the diagram:
S
Q / \
O / \ / \
M / \ / R \
/ \ / P \
J / N \
/ \/ \
/ K \
G Z
E / \
C / \/ H
A__ / \ / F
B D

That is, if M represents the dramatic climax moment, then MS
represents the dramatic climax scene, which is the period of
Bateman’s acting three parts. With S, comes the realization that
Bateman is not in his “perfect mind.” Notice the impeccable
workmanship by which this recognition is forced home to Verba in the
last speech of Bateman, the lines from “King Lear.” SZ is the brief
drop to the climax of action. See the story for details.

_Climax of Action_: The two men leave Bateman taking his curtain call.

CHARACTERIZATION. Why are the insignificant actors and actresses mentioned in the introduction? What is the particular literary value of Grainger? What outstanding characteristics has Bateman which none of the others possess? What value has the title in connection with the characters as a group?

How has Mr. Cobb individualized Verba and Offutt? To which means of characterization is he most partial--author’s description, the character’s own acts and speeches, or what others think and say of him?

Of the urchin who piloted the searchers, what is the first detail you recall? What other characters of Mr. Cobb do you remember from some physical peculiarity which he has emphasized?

Bateman is first presented to the reader through the opinion of Verba. Next, he is shown through the wine-shop clerk (who gives the effective clue as to Bateman’s “dippiness”). Then, the ragged urchin volunteers his contribution. What prepossessing characteristic does the reader receive from him? Finally, the actor speaks for himself. One part would be insufficient; it would be “too easy”; therefore by the cumulative method Mr. Cobb lets the old man show beyond a doubt that he is not a type, but an actor. Dundreary, the Frenchman and King Lear require varied ability.

Notice that what the character _does_ is the climactic portrayal--not what others say about him or what the author might portray.

DETAILS. Point out the clues to Bateman’s insanity. Study Mr. Cobb’s figures of speech. He frequently uses the human body as a basis for comparison (see, for example, page 85: “Its stucco facings, shining dimly like a row of teeth ...” and page 97: “the mouth of the place was muzzled with iron, like an Elizabethan shrew’s”). Why is such a basis conducive to vividness for everybody?

What is the acting time of the story?

What is the significance of the contrast between the modern play, as represented in the selections (pages 88 and 89), and the masterpieces suggested in the latter part of the story.

* * * * *

Irvin Cobb never writes a story until he has worked it over in his own mind for a couple of months. At the same time, a hundred new ideas are developing; and as he himself says he will not live long enough to write all his stories. A year before he wrote “The Belled Buzzard” he was visiting with Mrs. Cobb at her old home in Georgia. They were sitting on a front porch one morning when a huge buzzard flew past. Mr. Cobb recalled a Southern story about a belled buzzard, and remarked that he guessed he would weave a plot round it. Just one year later, he finished the developing and wrote the story.

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

SETTING. A town in Kentucky, with emphasis on Judge Priest’s office and the court-room. Time: in recent years, not the immediate present.

PLOT.

_Initial Incident_: Judge Priest sends for Peep O’Day and informs him
that he has inherited eight thousand pounds sterling.

_Steps to the Dramatic Climax_: Peep takes a silver dollar in
advance from the Judge; he invests it in fruit, cake, and candy. He
invites the boys to eat with him. The news of his fortune spreads,
and eventually reaches Percy Dwyer in the workhouse at Evansville,
Indiana (this is the hint at an opposing force, the first suggestion
of a struggle). O’Day begins to “betray the vagaries of a disordered
intellect.” He buys a child’s wagon, soda-pop, etc. With the
youngsters he spends a day in Bradshaw’s woods, playing games. The
day and his behavior are repeated.

_Dramatic Climax_: The apogee “came at the end of two months.” It
consists of three definite things:

a. The arrival of the legacy,
b. The arrival of the one-ring circus,
c. The arrival of Nephew Dwyer.

_Steps to the Climax of Action_: Peep invests two hundred dollars and
takes the youngsters to the circus. His nephew greets him at night;
O’Day bids him a quick good-bye. The nephew goes to an attorney.
Sublette addresses a petition to the Circuit Judge setting forth
that O’Day is of unsound mind and that his nephew prays for the
appointment of a curator over the estate. Judge Priest comes back
from Reelfoot Lake. He talks with O’Day, and says that he may tell on
the witness stand why he has spent the money as he has.

_Climax of Action_: Pages 120-124. O’Day’s speech. The climax of
action is extended here, as was the dramatic climax in “The Great
Auk.”

_Dénouement_: Judge Priest declares that the Court is advised as
to O’Day’s sanity; the youngsters applaud; the elders join in the
applause; O’Day is, according to the Judge, “the sanest man in this
entire jurisdiction.” Court is adjourned. The Judge lingers to make a
suggestion to the sheriff.

_Anti-Climax, and Close of the Narrative_: Peep brings to Judge
Priest a present of all-day suckers.

CHARACTERIZATION. Judge Priest, who appears in many of Mr. Cobb’s stories, is one of numerous types the author knew when he was a Paducah reporter. The student should study him as an example destined to literary permanence. In the opinion of the present critic he is the most representative figure in all the current literature about the South. No Southerner can fail to recognize the gentleman.

In this particular story how is the Judge described by the author? How does his mail help to characterize him? How does his behavior reveal him? For what qualities do you like him at first? For what throughout? (See especially pages 95, 117, 126.) For what, finally?

Study the description of O’Day. Study page 94 for the way Mr. Cobb makes O’Day appeal to the reader’s sympathy. What in his past history has contributory value to the present picture and present plot? What in his environment? What do the townspeople think of him? What exceptions are there? What is his attitude to others? Study his behavior in connection with the reception of news about his fortune, his subsequent acts, and his speech in the court-room. Why is his story of his early life of particular worth here? Note all the reasons for which you sympathize with him. Wherein, in brief, lies the human appeal of the story?

How are the minor characters hit off as individuals? How are they repressed so as not to usurp too much of the reader’s attention?

DETAILS. Study the easy way in which the locality is kept before the reader. For example, the business about the water-melons is essentially Southern.

From reading “The Great Auk” what would you judge to have been one of Mr. Cobb’s chief interests? What from reading “Boys Will Be Boys”?

Point out examples of this author’s humor.

What value has the fact (page 87) that the Court of Appeals had affirmed a decision of the Judge?

What effects arise from the statement that Peep wore a four dollar suit?

What forecast lies in O’Day’s admission of kinship to Dwyer? (Page 91.)

How has the author handled suspense in the first incident--the scene between the Judge and O’Day? Where does he satisfy curiosity? Is this, then, a minor climax of interest?

What reaction on the reader has O’Day’s statement, “I can’t neither read nor write”?

Note on page 100 the first indication that Peep’s sanity may be suspected (Speech of Mr. Quarles). This question of his sanity joins Dwyer’s interest in securing the money--a double force against Peep’s retaining his fortune. Were you in doubt, on first reading, that O’Day would remain in possession? Is the struggle well developed as the essential foundation of the plot?

Is the dénouement satisfactory?

CHAUTONVILLE

CENTRAL IDEA. The power of music is supreme.

THE STRUGGLE. The music-force opposed to the men’s disinclination to charge. Is there any doubt that in singing the men “home” Chautonville turned them toward the enemy?

THE SETTING. What are the place and the time of the action? Point out details that keep war dominant.

PRESENTATION. Who is the narrator?

CHARACTERS. Who, specifically, is Chautonville? Why is the description of his voice put before his physical personality? Value of the contrast?

DETAILS. What determination of the narrator is used to create suspense? How is the determination overcome?

* * * * *

Try to recall other examples, in literature, of the power of music. Study its whimsical use in Kipling’s “The Village That Voted the Earth Was Flat”; its use to recall the past in O. Henry’s “The Church with an Overshot Wheel.” See how it is employed in connection with the climax in Mary Synon’s “The Wallaby Track,” and in Kipling’s “The Brushwood Boy.”

What tonal values exist in the suggestion of sounds?

What relation exists between the rhythm and the theme?

Is the story pre-eminently one of theme, character, or setting?

LAUGHTER

According to Mr. Dobie, “Laughter” was a work of the imagination in every detail. It had nowhere a starting point from reality, though--as he says--he now and then draws a character from life, such as that of Josef in “Four Saturdays,” and he occasionally shapes an incident to the needs of the story, as he did in “The Failure.” In “The Failure” and other stories, however, as in “Where the Road Forked,” (_Harper’s_, June, 1917), he states that the incident was really a mere pivot or peg on which he hung a cloak of almost pure imagination.

In regard to his maintaining his angle of narration so perfectly, he says this phase of his craft is rather instinctive. “Even before I became conscious of the force of a single point of view I somehow managed to achieve it without thinking about it at all.”

PLOT. The story being a psychological study of a man who was untrue to himself and paid the penalty, one might expect to find a lack of external incident. Here the author accomplishes the difficult thing in that he has developed an outer action, which thus objectively exploits the mental processes.

_Initial Incident._ (Anticipated by the cumulative effect of the
Italian’s playing.) Suvaroff visits his next door neighbor to
remonstrate against the accordion. He learns that the Italian fears
death at the hands of Flavio Minetti, and he goes without stating
the object of his visit. (Notice that the theme is struck in the
Italian’s reason for fear: he had _laughed_ at Minetti.)

_Steps toward the Climax_: Suvaroff betrays to Minetti the
whereabouts of the Italian. Before he does so, Minetti warns him of
the results of his so doing, thus preparing for the next period of
the action. Minetti kills the Italian. Suvaroff sleeps. He goes to
breakfast; he hears a man has been murdered. During the day he leaves
the wine-shop where he plays the violin (a significant outer act
reflecting his mental state). His mind wanders; he thinks he dreamed
last night. Arriving at his rooms he finds the Italian’s mother.
She divulges that her son played to give pleasure to Suvaroff.
Minetti enters and bestows money on the old woman. Suvaroff begs the
hunchback, “Tell me in what fashion do these people laugh at you?”
(This is a minor climax, one stage of the turning of Suvaroff’s
fortunes. But since he is not yet _able_ to laugh, his life is in
no danger from Minetti. Had he not laughed, he would have lived.)
Minetti begs Suvaroff to go away; but he declares that he cannot.
Suvaroff finds a squalid wine-shop where he sits watching the
shadows. He finds he may learn to laugh at them, but not “at a man’s
soul.” He buys a pistol. Minetti says he will never use it. He tells
Minetti of the wine-shop pictures. While Suvaroff sits studying the
pictures a new one appears.

_Dramatic Climax_: He laughs, then turns and sees Minetti.

_Steps toward the Climax of Action_: Suvaroff goes home, undresses
deliberately, and goes to bed--knowing he will sleep.

_Climax of Action_: He hears the steps pattering along the hall, and
draws the bed-clothes higher.

_Dénouement_: Constructed by the reader, who has, however, no choice.

SETTING. San Francisco. “Fancy a novel about Chicago or Buffalo, let us say, or Nashville, Tennessee! There are just three big cities in the United States that are ‘story cities’--New York, of course, New Orleans, and, best of the lot, San Francisco.”--Frank Norris is thus quoted by O. Henry at the beginning of “A Municipal Report,” which (frequently proclaimed O. Henry’s best story) has its setting in Nashville. How many of the stories in this collection have their settings in New York? in San Francisco? What other localities are represented? What do you conclude?

How has Mr. Dobie kept setting before the reader? Is it the same _city_ as Mrs. Atherton uses in “The Sacrificial Altar”? Has it the same _atmosphere_?

CHARACTERIZATION. Are Suvaroff and Minetti “living” characters? Is Suvaroff, in the beginning, obsessed? Does the obsession culminate in monomania?

Minetti’s physical self is given to the reader from Suvaroff’s angle, which angle is consistently used throughout. What is Suvaroff’s personal appearance? How do you account for your answer? Whose mental processes are _not_ exploited? Why?

Why is the Italian’s mother introduced as a background character?

DETAILS. The smaller features of the story reveal also the hand of the craftsman: the use of night, the wine-shop, ugliness, the shadows, and the arrangement of the steps to what seems an inevitable ending. “Seems”; for Mr. Dobie has a theory “that there is no such thing as an inevitable ending. Any opening situation may work out fifty ways.” Is it possible, after certain steps in the action, to produce an ending other than inevitable?

How is the cold inflexibility of Minetti made convincing?

GENERAL. “In my days of apprenticeship,” Mr. Dobie says, “I planned my story out in detail and did much re-writing. I think one must do this at the beginning. But if one finally evolves an unconscious technique which does away with a scenario I think it makes for more spontaneous writing.... But it is dangerous to advise methods. My point in dwelling on the virtues of ‘planless stories’ is to encourage those who find their salvation along these lines and who are uncertain as to whether such a method will lead anywhere.... I started ‘Laughter’ in September, 1916, wrote about five pages, got stuck, put it away, dug it up three or four months later and in about three weeks carried it to a conclusion....”

“It is rather hard to give a definition of a short story. I should say briefly that a short story is the reaction of a character or characters to a particular incident, circumstance or crisis. Obviously, as its name implies, there should be economy of line. Perhaps the shortest successful story on record is as follows:

‘Three wise men of Gotham went to sea in a bowl.
If the bowl had been stronger, my tale had been longer.’

“This narrative has also the virtue of suggestion: the greater the suggestion, the greater the story. In other words, a story is artistically successful in proportion to the collaboration exacted from the reader.”

THE OPEN WINDOW

To get the proper connection, the reader should first know “Laughter.”

PLOT.

_Initial Incident_: André Fernet meets the hunchback, Flavio Minetti,
and learns that he knows something of Suvaroff’s death. He is brought
under Minetti’s power of fascination.

_Steps toward Dramatic Climax_: Fernet’s landlord, Pollitto, speaks
of his vacant room. Fernet resolves to see Minetti again, and perhaps
to learn who killed Suvaroff. They meet at the Hotel de France.
Minetti says he was “expecting” Fernet. Fernet goes with Minetti, in
spite of warning, to a wine-shop. Minetti’s suggestion that Fernet
evidently wished to know who murdered Suvaroff is coupled with a
warning that it is a “dreadful thing to share such a secret.” But
Fernet insists.

_Dramatic Climax_: Minetti says, “It was I who killed him,” whereupon
Fernet laughs. Notice that the dramatic climax, the laughter, falls
early in this story, whereas in the former it arrives tardily. Is
this logical, from the nature of the circumstances?

_Steps toward the Climax of Action_: Minetti states that he kills
every one who laughs at him. He prepares a _café royal_; Fernet is
afraid, but makes a show of indifference or incredulity. In the
morning, Fernet learns that his landlord has rented the room to
Minetti; he thinks of going away but decides to stay and “see what
happens.” After some days, Minetti calls on Fernet. He says he has
tried every slow way of murder except mental murder. Fernet laughs,
thus emphasizing the dramatic climax, but as Minetti says it does
not matter, “You can die only once.” His speech intensifies the
dramatic forecast, already conveyed. Minetti supplies saccharine for
the coffee; Fernet fears “slow poison,” but nevertheless drinks, as
if in a spirit of bravado, or unwillingness to seem afraid. Minetti
harps on the idea that Fernet has laughed at him. Fernet’s landlord
comments on his haggard appearance. Fernet dreams. He stays away
from his office, visits the library, and asks for all the works on
poison. After dining alone, he meets Minetti, who persuades him to
have a cup of coffee. Fernet speaks of his reading. He decides to go
away to-morrow. On arriving at his room, he feels sick and is helped
to bed by Minetti. He grows worse; Minetti attends him, and sends
for the doctor. Upon the doctor’s prescribing delicacies, Minetti
prepares several which, in succession, Fernet refuses, and which he
sees are thrown out of the window. At length he manages to tell the
doctor that he is eating nothing, in spite of Minetti’s assertion
to the contrary. The doctor thinks Fernet insane. At the end of the
week, even Minetti says he has eaten nothing. Fernet resolves, again,
to go away to-morrow. But, still doing without food, he grows weaker.

_Climax of Action_: He dies, but not before he hears Minetti’s
laughter and the words: “Without any weapon save the mind!”

The _struggle_ is well elaborated, as the preceding plot outline
indicates, even though it is the one-sided bird-and-snake struggle,
with a predetermined outcome.

CHARACTERIZATION. Compare Fernet with Suvaroff. Which of the two offers the more difficult problem in psychology? Is it easy to believe that Fernet submitted to the sway of Minetti? Why, for example, did he not go away?

Compare, also, the subordinate characters with those in “Laughter.” What do most of them in this story think or feel about Minetti? How does the author indicate their attitudes?

DETAILS. Is the angle of narration similar to that in “Laughter”? What details appeal to the reader’s gustatory sense? Study the symbolic use of the pepper-tree. Compare it with the cherry-tree in “Cruelties.” What details of setting emphasize the locality?

THE LOST PHOEBE

STARTING POINT. The beginning of this story lay in a bit about an insane man in Missouri, a story which came to Mr. Dreiser quite ten years before he developed it. The story quality testifies to the value of the long dormant period.

SETTING. Study the narrative, observing with respect to place that although you may feel you have your mind on the exact locality, it presently flits to another probable setting. This is because Mr. Dreiser attaches no importance to the locality of his short stories, so long as the incidents are American--and either urban or rural. The gain is, of course, in favor of the essential nationality; the loss is to the individual community. Does the first grasp of setting bring with it the atmosphere of the narrative?

CLASSIFICATION. A story of a search, at last successful. It may be classed, also, as a story of the supernatural, wherein the vision is one of a crazed brain. So beautifully has the author handled the fancy and the vision, however, that the reaction on the reader causes wonder as to whether sanity and insanity are not relative, or even interchangeable.

PRESENTATION. By the omniscient author, who exercises omniscience particularly over the mind of the main character.

CHARACTERS. Henry Reifsneider, Phoebe Ann (his wife), and background characters of the community folk. These last exist to give verisimilitude, for contrast, and as plot pivots. Cite an instance for each use.

PLOT.

_Initial Incident_: Phoebe dies.

_Steps toward the Dramatic Climax_: Henry “sees” Phoebe until his
mind gives way from brooding. He is possessed of a fixed idea: Phoebe
left because he “reproached her for not leaving his pipe where he was
accustomed to find it.” He searches for her (immediate first steps
given in detail) nearly seven years.

_Dramatic Climax_: He finds her.

_Steps to the Immediate Climax of Action_: He follows her to the edge
of the cliff; he sees her below among the blooming apple trees.

_Climax of Action_: He leaps over the cliff.

_Dénouement_: He is found, a smile upon his lips.

DETAILS. Study the presentation of Henry, which gives so clear an impression of his unbalanced mind. Study the motivation for this insanity, the author’s analysis of Henry’s psychology, Henry’s acts, and his speeches. What contributory effect has the _calling_ for Phoebe?

Would you agree that atmosphere is the dominant element in the story? Is a supernatural story likely to be one of atmosphere? Why?

Study the way in which the author has made vivid the picture of the Reifsneider home. Observe the skill with which he has contrasted the dull, even sordid, realism of the actual setting with the beauty of Henry’s visions. Why should the final one be the most beautiful? What color words do you find? How does color, or lack of it, aid in the unified effect?

Read Mr. Dreiser’s “Free” (see volume bearing this title) and compare it with “The Lost Phoebe.” Which do you regard as the more significant story?

LA DERNIÈRE MOBILISATION

This is a sketch, wherein the mist, the fog, the forest, and the shadowy figures combine with the muffled sounds into a dim monotone. It is a picture galvanized into life. Notice that the narrative tense is not preferred.

The meaning of the sketch emerges in the last sentence. It is the _idea_ which lends significance to the picture.

THE EMPEROR OF ELAM

CLASSIFICATION. A novelette. The length (around 20,000 words), the many and rapid changes of scene, the shifting from character to character, the broken progress,--these are the outstanding characteristics not of the short-story but of a more leisurely type of fiction, one having a wider canvas, a larger significance.

STUDY