Editor's Choice
In O. Henry's "The Strange Story," what does the unusual climax, denoted by the line "I was a little late," as I waited for a street car," mean?
"I was a little late," said John Smothers, "as I waited for a street car."
Quick answer:
The unusual climax in "The Strange Story" is a humorous reference to the inefficiency of the local streetcar system. John Smothers' long delay in returning home was due to the notoriously slow streetcar service in Austin. The climax serves as a punchline to the joke, revealing that Smothers genuinely intended to get medicine but was held up by public transport.
O. Henry is making a humorous reference to the chronic inefficiency of the local streetcar system. Everyone thought that John Smothers had vanished that night when he went out to buy some medicine. It's sadly all too common for parents to walk out on their families, so there wouldn't have been anything particularly unusual about a man leaving home one night and never coming back. But the reason why it took John Smothers so long to return was because he had to wait an absolute eternity for the streetcar to show up. He genuinely did leave the house to get some medicine for his sick daughter, but thanks to the vagaries of public transport, it took him rather a long time to make his way back.
The story is basically a long joke. The last line is, of course, the punchline. The streetcar business in Austin was notorious for financial and mechanical failure. If one were waiting for a streetcar, one would almost certainly wait for a very long time. Because it is essentially a joke, this story can't have a traditional climax. John Smothers' revelation of what kept him so long, however, serves as the de facto climax, as a any punchline would in a joke of more than a few sentences.
O. Henry does give clues that he is telling a joke:
- "I will go downtown and get some medicine for her," said John Smith (for it was none other than he whom she had married).
- So John Smith did not go, and together they sat by the bedside of little Pansy (for that was Pansy's name).
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