What is the plot summary of "An Unfinished Story" by O. Henry?
Most of the plot of this story occurs in "the past." The speaker has died and is going to be judged by God -- judged for his actions. While there, he is asked by an angel if he belongs to a certain group of men waiting to be judged. At that point, we flash back to the life of someone named Dulcie.
She is a poor girl who works for $6 per week (a long time ago). That is very little money and she is often hungry. She has been asked on a date by a fairly rich guy (Piggy). It seems that he dates poor girls. What is implied is that he gives them food and such and expects them to sleep with him
Dulcie refuses at the last minute to go out with him. But the narrator tells us that at some later time when she is hungrier, she does go out with him.
Then we return to the afterlife. The group of men the angel had asked about were men who owned the places that girls like Dulcie worked -- the men who paid them so little they had to sleep with men to get food,
The speaker says he burned down orphanages and killed a blind man -- but he was not as bad as the men who paid the girls so little.
What's your opinion of O. Henry's "An Unfinished Story"?
This is a classic O. Henry story replete with irony and typical O. Henry's wry humor. Just when Soapy decides to reform his dissolute life and get a job, he finally gets what he has tried for but now does not desire: He is arrested! While O. Henry has fun with this narrative, there is a good point here. One should not waste one's life because if one does decide to reform oneself, it may be too late.
O. Henry's mention of "Primal Energy" for God is just a facetious remark which is suggestive of what Soapy may be thinking in his dissolute condition.
What are you asking about the story? First impressions?
My first impression of the story is that it has something of a paternalistic message. It seems to be saying that one of the worst thing that someone can do is to take sexual advantage of a poor woman. This seems like something of an antiquated idea--it implies that women are prey for predatory men and that men who use the poverty of women to exploit them are the worst sort of person.
If you want other sorts of discussion, please clarify your question.
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