O. Henry

O. Henry

Honors English II 10th-7th period
March 30, 1998
O. Henry led a life comprised of love, deception, losses, pain, and delight.   He draws these aspects of his life into his talent of writing.   One can find a description of O. Henry's life experiences in virtually all of his works.   He describes his fears and longings, his triumphs and losses.   One can consider a prime example of him incorporating his life into his art to be "The Last Leaf."   O. Henry utilizes his trademark styles of a sacrificial theme, fear of illness, and twist on the fatalistic tone in that work.

William Sidney Porter's eventful life began on September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina.   He later changed his name to the famous pseudonym, O. Henry.   When Porter was three years old, tragedy struck his family.   His mother, ravaged by pneumonia, died in her sleep ("O. Henry," Short Story Criticism 153).   Dr. Porter moved his children in with his mother and sister, who were made responsible for the education and upbringing of William Porter and his brother ("O. Henry," Short Story Criticism 153).   As Porter grew up, he became a pharmacists assistant, and then went on to obtain his pharmacist's license in 1881 ("O. Henry," Short Story Criticism 153).   Harry Hanson describes Porter as "pale, anemic, and sickly." and accredits that, along with his omnipresent fear of death by pneumonia, to why he moved to a sheep ranch in Southwest Texas, which was endowed with a better climate than North Carolina (viii).  
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At the age of 22, Porter became a bankteller in Austin and married ("O. Henry," Short Story Criticism 153).   During this career, Porter bought out a weekly humor paper in 1894 and named it The Rolling Stone ("O. Henry," Short Story Criticism 153).   The paper's content primarily consisted of Porter's original work ("O. Henry," Short Story Criticism 153).   Once Porter was slapped with embezzlement charges, he fled Austin for New Orleans, then subsequently for Honduras....