PROOF OF THE PUDDING

ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT

ABOUT THE WRITER

O. Henry (1862-1910) was an American writer who wrote
short stories that are known to have twist endings.
His real name was William Sidney Porter but he later
changed the spelling to Sydney.
He has written a number of short stories and there is
even a O. Henry award that is given to outstanding
short stories.
One of his best known stories is The gift of Magi,
which we had in our syllabus last year.
In 1952, a film called O. Henrys full house was made,
which featured five of his stories. The gift of Magi was
one of those stories.

WHAT IS THE STORY

ABOUT?
This story depicts a real life example of an
irony. The story is about two old friends. One
(Editor Westbrook) is a fairly well-to-do editor of
the Minerva magazine and the other one (Mr.
Dawe) is a fiction writer, who is struggling to
get his work published. As we would learn in the
story, Mr. Dawe and Mr. Westbrook used to be
close friends at one time. They lived in the
same neighborhood. But a hard time forced the
Dawe family to leave the neighborhood and live
in a flat in a shabby society.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE

WRITER AND THE EDITOR
Their relationship was not just the kind
of relationships that an editor has with
a writer. It was much more than that.
The two families often went to theatres
and dinners together. Mrs. Dawe and
Mrs. Westbrook were the dearest of
friends, and were inseparable, as
quoted by Editor Westbrook in the
story. He said, were both lucky chaps
to have such wives

THE PLOT
Years later, Editor Westbrook is returning to his
office after having lunch at his favorite corner
of a Broadway hotel. On his way, he meets Mr.
Dawe, the latter in a very poor looking
condition. The editor is surprise at this
unappealing look of the man he once knew
closely. Mr. Dawe convinces the editor to sit on
a virulent bench. It is at this point when we
learn that a few works of Mr. Dawe had been
rejected by Editor Westbrook years earlier
when they were friends

THE PLOT (continued)

Mr. Dawe and Editor Westbrook had a
discussion on why Mr. Dawes work was
rejected.
We can find in many instances of the story
that Mr. Dawe was struggling to make a living
and was almost on the verge of starving him
and his wife.
According to the Editor, Mr. Dawes works were
rejected by his magazine as those stories
always had a strange unrealistic ending.

THE PLOT (continued..)

The Editor pointed out one mistake. Mr.
Dawe didnt seem to stick to his writing style
and always turned into a photographer at
the end of his stories. Mr. Dawes characters
seemed to have a very normal expression of
sorrow at a sudden, deep and tragic
incident. According to Editor Westbrook, it
wasnt real. He said that during a sudden,
tragic incident, the human heart calls forth a
proportionate expression of feeling

THE PLOT (continued)

Mr. Dawe wasnt convinced and
thought of a plan to prove his point, on
the condition that if hes able to prove
his point, his work would have to be
published.
It was 2:33pm. Mrs. Dawe wasnt at
home since morning, which was a
perfect setup for Mr. Dawe to execute
his plan

THE PLAN
According to the plan, Mr. Dawe and Editor
Westbrook would go to the formers home. Mr.
Dawe would write a note for his wife (Louise)
saying that he has left her forever. After that, he
and the editor would hide themselves in the
dining-room concealed by the portieres, and
from there, they would see how Mrs. Dawe
reacts on reading the note. If she expressed
sorrow in a normal way, Mr. Dawes theory would
be proven. Otherwise if she reacts in a dramatic
way, the Editor would have his point proven.

THE PLAN IS CARRIED OUT!

This plan wasnt really something that the
editor approved of, because it involved
playing with Mrs. Dawes emotions. But he
was finally convinced by Mr. Dawe who
didnt think of it as a cruel prank because
success would mean that his work would
be published and it would be good for both
him and his wife. He described his wife as
a woman with a heart as strong as a
ninety-eight-cent-watch!

THE PLAN IS CARRIED OUT

The two men reach the shabby flat. Mr.
Dawe is about to find a paper and
some ink when he spots a note already
written by Mrs. Dawe and left on the
center-table for Mr. Dawe to read.

THE TWIST
The letter mentioned that Mrs. Dawe
had left Mr. Dawe forever, as she
wanted to earn something for her own.
She also had a companion Mrs.
Westbrook, who had also got bored of
having Mr. Westbrook as a husband
whom she described as phonograph,
iceberg and a dictionary! She had
wished Mr. Dawe success at the end of
the note.

THEIR REACTION
Mr. Dawes reaction My god, why have
you given me this cup to drink? If she is
false, then let the best gifts of the heavens
(faith and love) become a joke for traitors
and fiends
Mr. Westbrooks reaction Say, Shack (Mr.
Dawe), isnt that a hell of a note? Wouldnt
that knock you off your balance, Shack? Isnt
it hell, shack, isnt it?

THE CONCLUSION
Both men were wrong!!
Mr. Dawe reacted in a dramatic way, which
was by no means, ordinary.
And Mr. Westbrook reacted in the way you and
I react on usual incidents.
So, Mr. Westbrook reacted in the way Mr.
Dawe had said in his theory and Mr. Dawe had
reacted in the way Mr. Westbrook believed to
be true.

WHAT DO WE LEARN?
There are many things one can learn
from this story.
Firstly, we learn that poverty creates a
lack of self-esteem in a person. There
are many instances in the story where
Mr. Dawe feels no regret to show off
his poverty and a sort of I-haveaccepted-this-condition attitude.

INSTANCES
When editor Westbrook tells Mr. Dawe to
bring his wife to the Westbrook residence to
have an informal meal like the old times, Mr.
Dawe says, Later. When I get another shirt
When Mr. Dawe tells Mr. Westbrook to sit on
the virulent bench, he says, sit down. You
wont be disgraced. This bench is my office. I
cant come to yours because of my
appearance.

INSTANCES
When both men reach Mr. Dawes
residence, Mr. Dawe says, Get a chair
if you can find one
He also says, while I hunt up pen and
ink So, he almost had to undergo a
treasure hunting game to get hold of a
pen and some ink.

WHAT ELSE DO WE LEARN?

We also learn that poverty makes
some people, if not all, desperate to
earn money.
In this story, Mr. Dawe was ready to
play with his wifes emotions to prove
his point, which, to him, seemed the
only way to restore the comfort of life
(although the wife turned out to be
one step ahead of him later!)