This document compares the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe and O. Henry. Both writers are renowned for their skill in crafting shocking or unexpected endings. Poe's stories typically feature mysterious or unhappy endings, relying on elements of horror and suspense that delve into human psychology. In contrast, O. Henry's stories depict more realistic themes of common people and tend to have happy or romanticized endings, idealizing love, marriage and relationships. Specifically, stories like "The Black Cat" by Poe have ambiguous endings where justice cannot be proven, while O. Henry's stories like "The Gift of the Magi" typically have surprisingly romantic twists that stretch believability but are enjoyed by readers. Overall, both

1. Comparative
studies Poe &
Henry

2. Roll no. 8.
Paper 10 – American literature.
Submitted to –
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH,
MK BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY.
Bhumi Dangi.
M.A. Semester 3.M.A. Semester 3.

3. Trajectory of presentation
1
2
3
4
What
makesshort
story
unforgettable
‘Endings’ of
Poe’sstory
Why havetakenthese twowriters forcomparison.
Endings of
Henry

4. E. A. Poe.
O. Henry.

5. 1. What makes short story
unforgettable
• If we are asked what is
meant by a short story we
need only say --
“Story which is
short”
-- R. J. Rees

6. … cont …
• “A short story is or should be, a simple thing; it aims at
producing one single vivid effect; it has to seize the
attention at the outset, and never relaxing, gather it
together more n more until the climax is reached. The
limits of the human capacity to attend closely therefore set
a limit to it: it must explode and finish before interruption
occurs or fatigue sets in.”
-- H. G. Wells. ( A master of story-teller’s art.)

7. 2. Why have taken these two
writers for comparison.
• Common things –
• They both worked on genre – short story.
• Both on them have done remarkable job in their writings.
• Edgar Allan Poe - January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849
William Sydney Porter September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910
• They are almost contemporary.
• Both of them are famous for “shocking & sudden End of
the short story”, but in different ways. Henry for “twist”
and Poe for most of the time, he begins with an ending.

8. 2.2Where they differ in their writings
E. A. Poe
• Based on these elements-
Horror & Suspense.
• Goes deep in layers of
human psychology.
• His stories are above the
realities.
• Mysterious, unhappy
endings.
O. Henry
• Common person’s day-to-
day life.
• Themes of his writing goes
along with love, sacrifice,
marriage.
• His stories are rather
fantasy or romantic in
nature.
• Happy endings can be
found.

9. ..Quotes..
• ““The boundaries which divide Life from DeathThe boundaries which divide Life from Death
are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall sayare at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say
where the one ends, and where the otherwhere the one ends, and where the other
begins?”begins?”
--Edgar Allan Poe
• ““when one loves one’s art, no service seemswhen one loves one’s art, no service seems
too hard.”too hard.”
-- from ‘A Service of love’ by O. Henry.

10. 3. Ending of Poe.
• Taken into account ( “Black Cat”, “The cask of
Amontillado”, “The Tell Tale Heart”)
• Gothic Elements are there. Ending remains
mysterious.
• Though with the spectacles of justice, we
cannot prove that character have done right
thing but the confessor only commits WHY he
have done so or so things.

11. 4. Endings of Henry
• Taken into account ( “The Last Leaf”, “The gift of Magi”, “A
service of love”)
• Endings are romanticised. Deals with the sentiments of
human emotions.
• Sometimes it typically becomes romantic that we hardly
believe it. But we as reader love to get lost in the fancy world.
• It idealises the thing like love, marriage, human relationships
etc. That hardly one can achieve that height of sacrifice.

12. AN OVERVIEW..
What makes short
story unforgettable
Why have taken these two
writers for comparison.
‘Endings’ of Poe’s
story Endings of
Henry
• Especially
Endings. • They have worked
marvelously well on different
trajectories.
• Above reality –
romanticism.
• Above the reality

13. Works referred
• Wikipedia
• Select stories of O Henry
• Short stories by Edgar Allan Poe
• ‘English Literature’ by R. J. Rees
• ‘Glossary of literary terms’ by M. H. Abraham.

14. For further
discussions, visit me
on..
bhumidangi7405@gmail.com