Complete stylistic analysis

     The story under analysis “The Cactus” is written by well-known American writer O. Henry. His short stories are known for wit, wordplay and clever twist endings. He wrote nearly 600 stories about life in America. Among his most famous stories are:"The Gift of the Magi" ,"The Ransom of Red Chief", "The Cop and the Anthem" ,"A Retrieved Reformation", "The Duplicity of Hargraves". The last collection of short stories was “Waifs and Strays” published in 1917. “The Cactus” belongs to this book and is one of the best stories among other. This story was written earlier and the exact time is unknown. But the fact is that the last collection consists of stories, including “The Cactus” that were written earlier but were not published. More detailed information about the author you can find in my blog. 

        The main idea of the story is irony of fate. The story teaches us to be own self in different situations and to be honest, especially with our beloveds.

      Setting in this story is presented in a general way.Because we don't have the detailed description of the place and time of the events.There are only few phrases,which help us to imagine the atmosphere.And as I said it's dull, gloomy and sad.The events of the story take place in Trysdale' s (main character of the story) bachelor apartments straight after the wedding ceremony. "Trysdale was  standing by a table in his bachelor apartments...Trysdale's friend, the brother of the bride, stood at a sideboard complaining at being allowed to drink alone. Both men were in evening dress. White favors like stars upon their coats shone through the gloom of the apartment''. The atmosphere in the room is dull like Trysdale's thoughts. He thinks about the last few hours. Why is he so gloomy? There was the wedding of woman he loved and he even proposed to her. After this the author shows us events which took place before. 

      From the viewpoint of presentation the story is the 3^rd person narration.  The author  is able to provide us with an objective rendering of the principal character’s thoughts and actions. 

      The plot of the story is quite specific, because the author uses such technique as flashback. After the ceremony Trysdale "remarshalled in his mind 

the events of those last few days before the tide had so suddenly turned." I think that in some extent the story has both external and internal conflicts. External conflict is the conflict between Trysdale and his beloved.The reason is she married another man. But the main one is internal conflict.The character blames himself for imperious behaviour and disparagement. He also rebukes himself, that he didn't find and talk to her,after she'd sent him the cactus as an answer to his proposal.   "His large pride and hurt vanity kept him from seeking her". 
 We have exposition,climax and resolution of the story. In the exposition the author tells us about time, then we get acquainted with the main characters.Then the author tells us romantic story.The climax is the moment when Trysdale makes a proposal to his beloved. The time when he is waiting for her answer, she sends him the cactus(Ventomarme) and their next meeting are falling actions. And then we have resolution.The author brings us back to the real time. The voice of Trysdale’s friend interrupted his thoughts. He tells Trysdale abou the cactus : “Hallo! Here’s an old acquaintance. Wherever did you rake up this cactus, Trysdale? … - Know any Spanish, Trysdale?.. - Yes. The natives imagine the leaves are reaching out and beckoning to you. They call it by this name--Ventomarme. Name means in English, 'Come and take me.'"          

There are three characters in the story : Trysdale, his beloved and his friend. We meet the main character- Trysdale-at the beginning of the story. He seems to be very serious, calm and even a person of saturnine temper. There is no direct description of his temper. O. Henry tells nothing about his attitude to the character. But it is possible to guess everything from Trysdale’s speech and behavior. "He saw all the garbs of pretence and egoism that he had worn now turn to rags of folly". It describes him as a person who can admit his mistakes. "Vanity and conceit? These were the joints in his armor" He doesn't afraid of self-criticism and he is ready to come around.I like this quality."She had always insisted upon placing him upon a pedestal, and he had accepted her homage with royal grandeur". He was selfish and full of himself.               While his beloved is the direct opposite. "How glad, how shy, how tremulous she was!" This quotation gives us only a good image of this person."She had always insisted upon placing him upon a pedestal...It had been a very sweet incense that she had burned before him; so modest (he told himself); so childlike and worshipful, and (he would once have sworn) so sincere". Her love is childly pure and sincere.Another character is Trysdale's friend, the brother of the bride. I can say hardly anything about this character. The only thing I can say is that he is a good brother."Only little sister I had, too, and now she's gone". The author pays a small attention to this character, but at the end makes him an important person in this story.        

In order to portray the characters and events which occur in the story the author uses a lot of stylistic devices.

As for the lexical stylistic means and expressive devices, the author uses epithets, metaphors, similes, personification  , oxymoron and zeugma.    

Epithets : scarifying retrospect, odorous masses, well-bred voices,drawling words ,  hopeless point, poor  consolation, innermost, unmitigated, arid unbedecked self, swift, limpid, upward look; convincing beauty, unworthy, sullen exultation...The author uses epithets not only to characterize the objects and phenomenons, but to point out some its peculiar features.            

Metaphors :  garbs of pretence and egoism, the ruins of his self-conceit..O.Henry uses metaphors to "play" with our imagination. It creates our own impressions of the text.         
Similes : white favors like stars; as a desert drinks the rain; fluttered like a snared bird.   
Oxymoron: sullen exultation. The author uses the oxymoron to intensify the feeling.       
Personification : desert drinks the rain      
Zeugma:  garlicky, cockroachy banana steamer. He uses it to create humorous effect.

       As for syntactical stylistic devices, O.Henry uses ellipsis,asyndeton, aposiopesis and repetitions.

    Ellipsis :  

"A present," said Trysdale, "from a friend. Know the species?"
"Very well. It's a tropical concern. See hundreds of 'em around Punta every day. Here's the name on this tag tied to it. Know any Spanish, Trysdale?"
"No," said Trysdale, with the bitter wraith of a smile — "Is it Spanish?"
"Yes.  Ellipsis reproduces colloquial speech.So, it's not surprising, that the author uses it.

 Asyndeton:   Indeed, his conceit had crumbled; its last prop was gone.”; “As he slowly unbuttoned his gloves, there passed through Trysdale's mind a swift, scarifying retrospect of the last few hours”             

 Repetitions :  “So childlike and so worshipful, and (he would once have sworn) so sincere”;”How glad, how shy, how tremulous she was! How she fluttered”           

 Aposiopesis: But why —; If —. He uses aposiopesis to show how hard for Trysdale to express his pain.           

Summing up the analysis of the story we should say that O.Henry brilliantly uses all the stylistic devices and this help us to feel the atmosphere of the story and to understand character's state of mind. This story has a very deep meaning. It makes us think about many things.

Characters of the story

There are three characters in the story : Trysdale, his beloved and his friend. We meet the main character- Trysdale-at the beginning of the story. He seems to be very serious, calm and even a person of saturnine temper. There is no direct description of his temper. O. Henry tells nothing about his attitude to the character. But it is possible to guess everything from Trysdale’s speech and behavior. "He saw all the garbs of pretence and egoism that he had worn now turn to rags of folly". It describes him as a person who can admit his mistakes. "Vanity and conceit? These were the joints in his armor" He doesn't afraid of self-criticism and he is ready to come around.I like this quality."She had always insisted upon placing him upon a pedestal, and he had accepted her homage with royal grandeur". He was selfish and full of himself. 

While his beloved is the direct opposite. "How glad, how shy, how tremulous she was!" This quotation gives us only a good image of this person."She had always insisted upon placing him upon a pedestal...It had been a very sweet incense that she had burned before him; so modest (he told himself); so childlike and worshipful, and (he would once have sworn) so sincere". Her love is childly pure and sincere.

Another character is Trysdale's friend, the brother of the bride. I can say hardly anything about this character. The only thing I can say is that he is a good brother."Only little sister I had, too, and now she's gone". The author pays a small attention to this character, but at the end makes him an important person in this story. 

Plot of the story

 The plot of the story is quite specific, because the author uses such technique as flashback.After the ceremony Trysdale "remarshalled in his mind 

the events of those last few days before the tide had so suddenly turned." I think that in some extent the story has both external and internal conflicts.External conflict is the conflict between Trysdale and his beloved.The reason is she married another man. But the main one is internal conflict.The character blames himself for imperious behaviour and disparagement. He also rebukes himself, that he didn't find and talk to her,after she'd sent him the cactus as an answer to his proposal.   "His large pride and hurt vanity kept him from seeking her".

We have exposition,climax and resolution of the story. In the exposition the author tells us about time, then we get acquainted with the main characters.Then the author tells us romantic story.The climax is the moment when Trysdale makes a proposal to his beloved. The time when he is waiting for her answer, she sends him the cactus(Ventomarme) and their next meeting are falling actions. And then we have resolution.The author brings us back to the real time. The voice of Trysdale’s friend interrupted his thoughts. He tells Trysdale abou the cactus : “Hallo! Here’s an old acquaintance. Wherever did you rake up this cactus, Trysdale? … - Know any Spanish, Trysdale?.. - Yes. The natives imagine the leaves are reaching out and beckoning to you. They call it by this name--Ventomarme. Name means in English, 'Come and take me.'"

Setting of the story

So, the next thing i want to do is to analyze the setting of the story. As we know, the setting of the story indicates time and place of the events.The events of the story take place in Trysdale' s (main character of the story) bachelor apartments straight after the wedding ceremony. "Trysdale was  standing by a table in his bachelor apartments...Trysdale's friend, the brother of the bride, stood at a sideboard complaining at being allowed to drink alone. Both men were in evening dress. White favors like stars upon their coats shone through the gloom of the apartment''. The atmosphere in the room is dull like Trysdale's thoughts. He thinks about the last few hours. Why is he so gloomy? There was the wedding of woman he loved and he even proposed to her. After this the author shows us events which took place before.

So, I've already read "The Cactus" by O. Henry for several times. And I'm really impressed! The story has an interesting plot with unexpected ending. I advise you to read this short story.You can find it here http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/ohenry/bl-ohenry-cactus.htmFirst of all I want to give you some information about the author. I'll give you only interesting facts from his life. And then I'm going to proceed to the analysis.

 O. Henry was an American writer whose short stories are known for wit, wordplay and clever twist endings. He wrote nearly 600 stories about life in America.

He was born in Greensboro, N.C. He loved New York and many of his stories are set in the City.

William Porter only went to school until he was 15 years old. He dropped out of school as he could work at his uncle’s drugstore. 

In his 20 Porter became both a clerk and bank teller and moved to Texas. Then he was sent to jail not only for embezzlement, but also for absconding instead of facing trial. He had very little to say for his defense, still mourning the loss of his wife Athol, who died a few months before his trial. 

While in prison he began writing short stories in order to support his young daughter Margaret. His first published story was "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" (1899). He used a pseudonym, Olivier Henry, only once and changed his pen name to O. Henry, not wanting his readers to know he was in jail. 

Porter gave various explanations for the origin of his pen name. In 1909 he gave an interview to The New York Times, in which he gave an account of it:It was during these New Orleans days that I adopted my pen name of O. Henry. I said to a friend: "I'm going to send out some stuff. I don't know if it amounts to much, so I want to get a literary alias. Help me pick out a good one." He suggested that we get a newspaper and pick a name from the first list of notables that we found in it. In the society columns we found the account of a fashionable ball. "Here we have our notables," said he. We looked down the list and my eye lighted on the name Henry, "That'll do for a last name," said I. "Now for a first name. I want something short. None of your three-syllable names for me." "Why don’t you use a plain initial letter, then?" asked my friend. "Good," said I, "O is about the easiest letter written, and O it is."A newspaper once wrote and asked me what the O stands for. I replied, "O stands for Olivier, the French for Oliver." And several of my stories accordingly appeared in that paper under the name Olivier Henry.

My first step in blogging

Hello everybody:) I'm really excited to have my own blog :) I haven't had a blog before, so it was very interesting for me to create it.
So, I'm going to share my thoughts and knowledge here. I think this blog is useful thing! It's a way to create something new.

                            I'll be glad to get your comments=)