Selected Short Stories of O. Henry

Author: O. Henry
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: O. Henry has written many novels depicting the darkness of urban life in the United States; he has also written numerous stories specifically about American con artists and published a collection titled The Gilded Man. The protagonist of these stories, Jeph Peter, is a con artist who loves to boast about his skills and schemes. He has a philosophy and set of morals about con artistry. He proudly claims, "I have never taken the hard-earned money of honest people. The money I get is the extra, restless money that fools and simpletons cannot keep in their pockets." Some people compare Jeph Peter to Rockefeller, which Jeph Peter finds an insult. Through the author's portrayal, it is easy to see that the author views the entire American society as a society of con artists. The profession of con artistry is truly all-encompassing in the United States—marriages, positions of power, not to mention (The Precise Science of Marriage), and even what are called charitable causes are also excellent methods for con artistry (Lectures on the Mathematics of Charity). While the methods of con artists may vary in skill, their essence is the same.