Never judge a book’s value by its 5 cent sticker. These O. Henry short stories have been a perfect way to end out our evenings during Fall Break. The kids keep saying, “Wait. That’s it?” and I keep saying, “It’s a short story. You are left to ponder the future of these characters you’ve been so briefly introduced to.”
In that moment, it struck me that we read a lot of chapter books but not short stories. Chapters are vignettes with the expectation that a) more helpful information is to come and b) loose ends will likely be tied up. Not so with the short story. They really are their own literary form — a whirlwind romance of words. In terms of accessibility, the genre feels like a binary — Aesop’s fables are short short stories and then you graduate to collections like this with elevated language (written from 1906 – 1911 and the language reflects it) or more modern short stories with very adult themes.
Short stories are tough to write because you have to create believable characters the reader wants to invest in, yet be willing to let them go in a very small amount of time. For instance, in “The Last Leaf” Henry tells us about two artists, Sue and Johnsy, the indifferent town doctor along with the eccentric neighbor in the apartment downstairs. Just a handful of characters to create this heartwarming tableau about the cost of friendship as Johnsy develops pneumonia and is bedridden, believing her fate will be sealed when the last ivy leaf falls off the vine outside her window.
Some people have criticized O. Henry’s style, his penchant for twist endings, saying he is a predictable, manipulative writer. But to my 7th grader, her breath was authentically taken away when the story ended tonight. Her voice cracked and the words, “Oh. That was so… touching” surprisingly tumbled out of her mouth. She was fully invested in the characters which is what made the twist a powerful literary device. Here’s hoping I can find (or any of my readers can recommend) more worthy short stories to share with my students and family.
Maple Key Tutoring 