The Skylight Room Analysis

The Skylight Room:
External Analysis

by
Nahee Kang

English 11A
American Literature
Mr. Jason Lashley
September 18, 2015

Topic : External Analysis of The Skylight Room
Ⅰ. O. Henry’s life was melancholy.
A. He lived an unhappy childhood.
1. He was born on 11, September, 1862.
2. His family members were his dad, mom and two brothers.
3. His aunt taught him literature.
B. He was not a normal teenager.
1. He worked at his uncle’s drug store.
2. His family moved to Texas in 1881.
C. He had a sad love story.
1. In 1887, he married Athol Estes.
2. In 1907, he married Sarah Coleman.
D. He lived in the Prison.
E. He was unhealthy when he was old.
Ⅱ. New York was the place that O. Henry’s life changed.
A. He moved to New York in 1901.
B. New York was always the greatest city of America.
1. A lot of immigrants lived in New York.
2. New York is the western part of America.

Henry always had a humble attitude
Even if O. Henry is now respected and praised as the greatest of short stories, he did not think himself special. He considered writing as a job to earn money for his living, not a greater career. He was surely a modest man. (Miller)
His characteristics were also shown by his works. He got a lot of ideas for his characters in his short story when he worked in his uncle’s drug store, because he enjoyed telling stories and drawing caricatures for the customers. Later, he actually did use the people that he saw as characters for his work. (Merriman)
The characters in his stories were common people who were placid and tender. (Martin) His stories proved that he was a romanticist. (Miller) The “American short story genre” has become broader because of O. Henry’s unique styles, and a lot of authors were interested in his writing. (Martin)
O. Henry mostly wrote short stories
O. Henry wrote over 100 short stories within the 2 years he was in New York. (Martin) He wrote even more stories throughout his life. In 1909, O. Henry published a book “The Four Million”.