O.HENRY

                                                O.HENRY

The story under analysis “The Cactus” is written by well-known American writer O. Henry. His short stories are known in a whole world.Prolific American short-story writer, a master of surprise endings, whose narratives were typically set in Texas or New York City. O. Henry combined humor and pathos with an ironic twist of plot. Although some critics were not so enthusiastic about his formulatic way of writing, the public loved his entertaining tales and uncomplicated characters.

He wrote nearly 600 stories about life in America. Among his most famous stories are:"The Gift of the Magi" ,"The Ransom of Red Chief", "The Cop and the Anthem" ,"A Retrieved Reformation", "The Duplicity of Hargraves". The last collection of short stories was “Waifs and Strays” published in 1917. “The Cactus” belongs to this book and is one of the best stories among other. This story was written earlier and the exact time is unknown. But the fact is that the last collection consists of stories, including “The Cactus” that were written earlier but were not published.

O. Henry died of cirrhosis of the liver on June 5, 1910, in New York. At the time of his death, he was deeply in dept. O. Henry's funeral ceremony at the Little Church Around the Corner was brief. Three more collections, Sixes and Sevens (1911), Rolling Stones (1912) and Waifs and Strays (1917), came out posthumously. In 1918 the O. Henry Memorial Awards were established to be given annually to the best magazine stories, the winners and leading contenders to be published in an annual volume.