O. Henry
O. Henry
William Sydney Porter
William Sydney Porter was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1862. William's mother died when he was three years old, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother and aunt (O. Henry pp). He left school at the age of fifteen and five years later developed a cough (William pp). Friends invited him to Austin, Texas, hoping the change of climate would improve his health (William pp). There he worked a variety of jobs including that of a teller at the First National Bank (William pp). To supplement his income at the bank, William started a humorous weekly publication in 1884 called 'The Rolling Stone' (William pp). In ...
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to errors in bookkeeping rather than criminal intent and he would have been pardoned for the charges (William pp). However, leaving behind his wife and daughter, Henry boarded a train to New Orleans where he worked unloading banana boats and eventually ended up in Honduras and South America (William pp). During these two years on the run, William consorted with famous criminals and this lifestyle provided the beginning sparks for his stories (William pp).
In 1897, William learned that his wife was serious ill and returned to Austin even though he meant it would mean prison for him (William pp). That year his wife died and the following March William was sentenced to five years in the federal penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio (William pp). It was during this time in prison that he became serious about writing (William pp). Through the years, he had gone through a number of pseudonyms for his writing, but finally decided on O. Henry, after a prison guard named Orrin Henry (William ...
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Austin and Houston (William pp). His best known work and the most anthologized is "The Ransom of Red Chief," which is included in the 1910 collection, "Whirligigs" (O. Henry pp). He had one venture into the theater with "Lo" in 1909, but it was not successful (O. Henry pp). His one venture into theatre, "Lo," written in 1909 was not a success.
The last years of O. Henry's life were plagued by personal woes, including alcoholism, ill health, and financial problems (O. Henry pp). Due to his alcohol intake, which is reported to have been an average daily consumption of two quarts of whiskey, Henry was habitually late with his copy and often, as deadlines approached, agitated editors ...
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O. Henry. (2016, May 31). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/O-Henry/105672
"O. Henry." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 31 May. 2016. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/O-Henry/105672>
"O. Henry." Essayworld.com. May 31, 2016. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/O-Henry/105672.
"O. Henry." Essayworld.com. May 31, 2016. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/O-Henry/105672.
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