Short Stories of Various Types | Page 3

the systematic plan or pattern
into which the author weaves the events of the story up to some

finishing point of intense interest or of great importance to the story.
This vital part of the narrative is called the climax or crucial point. If
you note the pattern or design in wall paper, carpet, or dress ornament,
you will see that all the threads or lines are usually worked together to
form a harmonious whole, but there is some special center of the design
toward which everything works. In the short story, as soon as the
author arrives at the crucial point he is through, often having no other
conclusion. This ending is so important that it must always be thought
out or planned for from the very beginning. This is true even in a
surprise ending, such as O. Henry delights in.
Unlike the novel, the short story works its plot out in some single main
incident, which is usually acted out by one chief character in a short
space of time, and all but the necessary details are omitted. Thus the
short story, which is read in a brief time, has a better opportunity than
the novel to produce a complete unity of effect upon the mind of the
reader, such as the effect of horror in Poe's "The Fall of the House of
Usher."
The short story consists of setting, characterization, and narrative. Any
one of these may be emphasized more than the other two. To illustrate
from the stories included in this book: Mr. Garland has emphasized
setting, or time, place, and atmosphere, in "The Camping Trip." That is,
the greatest interest in the story lies in the beautiful background of the
out-of-doors in Iowa in the month of June. In "Friends," on the other
hand, Myra Kelly has emphasized characterization, for Mrs.
Mowgelewsky, Morris, and Miss Bailey present the real interest of the
story. In "The Red-Headed League" by Conan Doyle the attention
centers upon the action.
The technical details of the short story may be summed up and made
clearer to you by illustrating them from the first story given in this
collection, "The Gift of the Magi." The story is "set" in an
eight-dollar-a-week apartment in New York City on the day before
Christmas of some recent year, in an atmosphere of poverty, but a
poverty made radiant by unselfish love. The plot of one main
incident--Della's sacrifice of her hair in order to get a Christmas present

for her husband--takes place in the short space of a few hours, and
works out to a half-humorous, half-pathetic climax, when Della and
Jim display their Christmas gifts for each other. This story has a
conclusion of one paragraph in length where the author reflects upon
what makes a real Christmas giver.
This is the skeleton of the story, but when you think it over, you will
realize that the real charm and interest for you lay in something that the
genius and style of the writer infused into this framework of the story.
Suggestions. In the composition work that you do during the weeks that
you are reading the short stories in this volume would it not be
interesting to you to try to write stories with little plots that lead up to
some high point of interest, stories of a single main incident or a
closely related series of events covering a short space of time?
You will find that the stories in this collection are of different types
with settings that take you in imagination all over our own country and
into foreign lands. Try writing a story with a surprise ending like "The
Gift of the Magi," a character story with the theme of unselfish love,
and its setting in a big city. Again, "John G," the story of adventure
with an animal for the hero, might suggest to you an adventuresome
incident in your own experience. If you have a vivid imagination, it
might be interesting to write a fanciful story like "Feathertop." All of
you have heard of true and thrilling incidents of the recent Great War.
Try to weave one into a good war story as did Daudet or Mrs. Andrews.
Almost every young person loves nature or the open country. After you
have read Mr. Garland's, "The Camping Trip," see how well you can
tell a story of your own experience in the out-of-doors. Or, best of all,
see if you can equal the great Conan Doyle in a detective story.
With the help of the biographical sketches and study notes, see if you
can classify, as types, the stories that have not been classified in the
preceding paragraph.

SHORT STORIES

O. HENRY
The Gift of the Magi[11-1]
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents