The Main Character in “The Romance of a Busy Broker” by O. Henry
Lecturer: Edy Toyib, M. A.
 |
By:
Risvi Uly Rosyidah
Class: C
English and Letter Department
Humanities and Cultures Faculty
State Islamic University of Maulana Malik Ibrahim
Malang
The Main
Character in “The Romance of a Busy Broker” by O. Henry
TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE PAGE............................................................................................... i
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the choosing the
Subject................................... 1
1.2 Objective and Scope of the Study............................................... 2
1.3 Statement of the Problem............................................................. 2
1.4 Theoretical Approach.................................................................... 2
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
2.1 Socio- Cultural of America………………………………………3
2.2 The Main Character....................................................................... 4
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………8
APPENDIX
Title:
The Romance Of A Busy Broker
Author: O Henry
Author: O Henry
Pitcher, confidential clerk in the office
of Harvey Maxwell, broker, allowed a look of mild interest and surprise to
visit his usually expressionless countenance when his employer briskly entered
at half past nine in company with his young lady stenographer. With a snappy
"Good-morning, Pitcher," Maxwell dashed at his desk as though he were
intending to leap over it, and then plunged into the great heap of letters and
telegrams waiting there for him.
The young lady had been Maxwell's stenographer
for a year. She was beautiful in a way that was decidedly unstenographic. She
forewent the pomp of the alluring pompadour. She wore no chains, bracelets or
lockets. She had not the air of being about to accept an invitation to
luncheon. Her dress was grey and plain, but it fitted her figure with fidelity
and discretion. In her neat black turban hat was the gold-green wing of a
macaw. On this morning she was softly and shyly radiant. Her eyes were dreamily
bright, her cheeks genuine peachblow, her expression a happy one, tinged with
reminiscence.
Pitcher, still mildly curious, noticed a
difference in her ways this morning. Instead of going straight into the
adjoining room, where her desk was, she lingered, slightly irresolute, in the
outer office. Once she moved over by Maxwell's desk, near enough for him to be
aware of her presence.
The machine sitting at that desk was no
longer a man; it was a busy New York broker, moved by buzzing wheels and
uncoiling springs.
"Well--what is it? Anything?"
asked Maxwell sharply. His opened mail lay like a bank of stage snow on his
crowded desk. His keen grey eye, impersonal and brusque, flashed upon her half
impatiently.
"Nothing," answered the
stenographer, moving away with a little smile.
"Mr. Pitcher," she said to the
confidential clerk, did Mr. Maxwell say anything yesterday about engaging
another stenographer?"
"He did," answered Pitcher.
"He told me to get another one. I notified the agency yesterday afternoon
to send over a few samples this morning. It's 9.45 o'clock, and not a single
picture hat or piece of pineapple chewing gum has showed up yet."
"I will do the work as usual,
then," said the young lady, "until some one comes to fill the
place." And she went to her desk at once and hung the black turban hat with
the gold-green macaw wing in its accustomed place.
He who has been denied the spectacle of a
busy Manhattan broker during a rush of business is handicapped for the
profession of anthropology. The poet sings of the "crowded hour of
glorious life." The broker's hour is not only crowded, but the minutes and
seconds are hanging to all the straps and packing both front and rear
platforms.
And this day was Harvey Maxwell's busy day.
The ticker began to reel out jerkily its fitful coils of tape, the desk telephone
had a chronic attack of buzzing. Men began to throng into the office and call
at him over the railing, jovially, sharply, viciously, excitedly. Messenger
boys ran in and out with messages and telegrams. The clerks in the office
jumped about like sailors during a storm. Even Pitcher's face relaxed into
something resembling animation.
On the Exchange there were hurricanes and
landslides and snowstorms and glaciers and volcanoes, and those elemental
disturbances were reproduced in miniature in the broker's offices. Maxwell
shoved his chair against the wall and transacted business after the manner of a
toe dancer. He jumped from ticker to 'phone, from desk to door with the trained
agility of a harlequin.__
In the midst of this growing and important
stress the broker became suddenly aware of a high-rolled fringe of golden hair
under a nodding canopy of velvet and ostrich tips, an imitation sealskin sacque
and a string of beads as large as hickory nuts, ending near the floor with a
silver heart. There was a self-possessed young lady connected with these
accessories; and Pitcher was there to construe her.
"Lady from the Stenographer's Agency
to see about the position," said Pitcher.
Maxwell turned half around, with his hands
full of papers and ticker tape.
"What position?" he asked, with a
frown.
"Position of stenographer," said
Pitcher. "You told me yesterday to call them up and have one sent over
this morning."
"You are losing your mind,
Pitcher," said Maxwell. "Why should I have given you any such
instructions? Miss Leslie has given perfect satisfaction during the year she
has been here. The place is hers as long as she chooses to retain it. There's
no place open here, madam. Countermand that order with the agency, Pitcher, and
don't bring any more of 'em in here."
The silver heart left the office, swinging
and banging itself independently against the office furniture as it indignantly
departed. Pitcher seized a moment to remark to the bookkeeper that the
"old man" seemed to get more absent-minded and forgetful every day of
the world.
The rush and pace of business grew fiercer
and faster. On the floor they were pounding half a dozen stocks in which
Maxwell's customers were heavy investors. Orders to buy and sell were coming
and going as swift as the flight of swallows. Some of his own holdings were
imperilled, and the man was working like some high-geared, delicate, strong
machine--strung to full tension, going at full speed, accurate, never
hesitating, with the proper word and decision and act ready and prompt as clockwork.
Stocks and bonds, loans and mortgages, margins and securities--here was a world
of finance, and there was no room in it for the human world or the world of
nature.
When the luncheon hour drew near there came
a slight lull in the uproar.
Maxwell stood by his desk with his hands
full of telegrams and memoranda, with a fountain pen over his right ear and his
hair hanging in disorderly strings over his forehead. His window was open, for
the beloved janitress Spring had turned on a little warmth through the waking
registers of the earth.
And through the window came a
wandering--perhaps a lost--odour--a delicate, sweet odour of lilac that fixed
the broker for a moment immovable. For this odour belonged to Miss Leslie; it
was her own, and hers only.
The odour brought her vividly, almost
tangibly before him. The world of finance dwindled suddenly to a speck. And she
was in the next room--twenty steps away.
"By George, I'll do it now," said
Maxwell, half aloud. "I'll ask her now. I wonder I didn't do it long
ago."
He dashed into the inner office with the
haste of a short trying to cover. He charged upon the desk of the stenographer.
She looked up at him with a smile. A soft
pink crept over her cheek, and her eyes were kind and frank. Maxwell leaned one
elbow on her desk. He still clutched fluttering papers with both hands and the
pen was above his ear.
"Miss Leslie," he began
hurriedly, "I have but a moment to spare. I want to say something in that
moment. Will you he my wife? I haven't had time to make love to you in the
ordinary way, but I really do love you. Talk quick, please--those fellows are
clubbing the stuffing out of Union Pacific."
"Oh, what are you talking about?"
exclaimed the young lady. She rose to her feet and gazed upon him, round-eyed.
"Don't you understand?" said
Maxwell, restively. "I want you to marry me. I love you, Miss Leslie. I
wanted to tell you, and I snatched a minute when things had slackened up a bit.
They're calling me for the 'phone now. Tell 'em to wait a minute, Pitcher.
Won't you, Miss Leslie?"
The stenographer acted very queerly. At
first she seemed overcome with amazement; then tears flowed from her wondering
eyes; and then she smiled sunnily through them, and one of her arms slid
tenderly about the broker's neck.
"I know now," she said, softly.
"It's this old business that has driven everything else out of your head
for the time. I was frightened at first. Don't you remember, Harvey? We were
married last evening at 8 o'clock in the Little Church Around the Corner."
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
of Choosing the Topic
O. Henry was a famous author of the New York. O. Henry was
originally born William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina. As a young man, he moved to Austin, Texas where he worked as a bank teller. He moved again to Houston, Texas in 1895 and became a newspaper columnist. From his experiences, O. Henry created the main character in The Romance of
a Busy Broker as if like himself.
The
Romance of a Busy Broker was one of his 250 stories which was written after
his release from prison in 1991. This story had surprise or ‘twist’ in the
ending. In this kind of story, there
were surprise character who were very unique. Therefore, the writer conducts
analysis on O. Henry’s The Romance of a Busy Broker in revealing the New
York society condition through its main character.
1.2 Objective
of the study
The primary
objective of this analysis is the main in O. Henry’s The Romance of a Busy Broker. The objectives of this study are to explore
the main character in this story and dig out the more information about the society
condition through the main character.
1.3 Statement
of Problem
Based on the
previous background of the choosing the topic, the statement of problem can be
formulated as follows how does the main character reveal the society condition
of New York City at that time?
1.4 Scope of
the Study
This paper is
devoted to the main character in revealing the society condition of New York
which was showed by O. Henry. This paper will analyze the society condition of
New York from the main character and socio-historical background which were
existed in O. Henry’s The Romance of a
Busy Broker.
1.5 Theoretical
Approach
The study is
attempting to explicate the main character in revealing the society condition
of New York people throughout The Romance of a Busy Broker. The writer uses Genetic
Structuralism research to analyzes the literary work from intrinsic and
extrinsic aspect. The research is started by intrinsic aspect (unity and
coherence) as the basic data. Then, research will associate many aspects with
its society condition. Literary work is a reflection which can reveal social,
culture, politic, economic aspect, etc. This important events from their era
can will be directly associated with intrinsic aspects of literary work.
The interconnection of literary work and the
social reality created the sociological approach for literature. This idea was
supported by Abram’s assumption which said that literary work is the mirror of
social reality (1979; 31). Sociological theory is a combination of observations
and insights that offer a systematic explanation of life, because literary work
tries to be the media in showing the changing of society.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
2.1 Socio- Cultural
of America
The Progressive Era lasted from 1895 until World War
I. This was a period of unrest and reform. Monopolies continued in
spite of the Sherman
Antitrust Act of 1890. Social problems
flourished in the U.S. During the 1910s labor unions continued to grow as the middle
classes became more and more unhappy. Unsafe working conditions were
underscored by the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory fire in which 145 female workers
were killed. Children were hired to work in factories, miles, and mines
for long hours in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. Though efforts to pass
a federal law proved unsuccessful, by the middle of this decade every state had
passed a minimum age law. A
commission found that up to 20% of the children living in cities were
undernourished, education took
second place to hunger and while children worked, only one-third enrolled in
elementary school and less than 10% graduated from high school. The status of the Negro
worsened. Skilled Negro workers were barred from the AF of L.
Women were also striving for equality. The first suffrage parade was held in 1910 - the 19th amendment finally ratified in 1919.
American
became the most highly industrialized
country during this time. Mass production
of cars created a nationwide prosperity
and resulted in one of the most profound social changes in America's history. Popular culture became a lucrative national product for the United
States. All over the world people were dancing our dance crazes,
listening to our jazz tunes, wearing our fashions, falling for our pop fads,
and buying our products. Tobacco was a big business, with immigrants to New York City accounting for 25% of the tobacco
purchasing.
2.1 The Main Character
The Romance of a Busy Broker mostly told about how busy the main character that is Harvey
Maxwell, a Manhattan broker, with his work until became forgetful.
Pitcher,
confidential clerk in the office of Harvey Maxwell, broker, allowed a look of
mild interest and surprise to visit his usually expressionless countenance when
his employer briskly entered at half past nine in company with his young lady
stenographer. With a snappy "Good-morning, Pitcher," Maxwell dashed
at his desk as though he were intending to leap over it, and then plunged into
the great heap of letters and telegrams waiting there for him.
In this opening paragraph, O’ Henry told the reader that
how busy Harvey Maxwell. When Harvey gave greeting to Pitcher, his clerk, he
was in a hurry. It was proven when he
run into his desk and did his daily work. These kinds of activities were also
done by average people living in New York City.
The machine sitting
at that desk was no longer a man; it was a busy New York broker, moved by
buzzing wheels and uncoiling springs.
"Well--what is it? Anything?" asked
Maxwell sharply. His opened mail lay like a bank of stage snow on his crowded
desk. His keen grey eye, impersonal and brusque, flashed upon her half
impatiently.
Once again the
author showed the reader that this kind of business life happened in New York
at that time. In this story, Harvey was in a stressful condition. His desk was
crowded. Harvey also became impersonal and brusque. He could become impatient
when he had to talk with other people.
He who has been denied the spectacle of a busy
Manhattan broker during a rush of business is handicapped for the profession of
anthropology. The poet sings of the "crowded hour of glorious life."
The broker's hour is not only crowded, but the minutes and seconds are hanging
to all the straps and packing both front and rear platforms.
O. Henry tried to hyperbole a rush of business in New York. In this
case, Harvey could not denied the crowded of Manhattan broker. Every second,
every minute, every hour, and every day, Harvey was lack of time. He was full
of ambition to finish the demand of his work.
And this day was Harvey Maxwell's busy day. The
ticker began to reel out jerkily its fitful coils of tape, the desk telephone
had a chronic attack of buzzing. Men began to throng into the office and call
at him over the railing, jovially, sharply, viciously, excitedly. Messenger
boys ran in and out with messages and telegrams. The clerks in the office
jumped about like sailors during a storm. Even Pitcher's face relaxed into
something resembling animation.
On the Exchange there were hurricanes and
landslides and snowstorms and glaciers and volcanoes, and those elemental
disturbances were reproduced in miniature in the broker's offices. Maxwell
shoved his chair against the wall and transacted business after the manner of a
toe dancer. He jumped from ticker to 'phone, from desk to door with the trained
agility of a harlequin.
This part of paragraph showed the reader how busy Harvey Maxwell.
He had to jump from ticker to phone, from desk to door, etc. He had to face much
business that he did such as receiving many messages, telegrams, and phone. O.
Henry could elaborate well the setting which supported that the main character
was very busy.
"Lady from the Stenographer's Agency to
see about the position," said Pitcher.
Maxwell turned half around, with his hands full
of papers and ticker tape.
The hand full of papers and ticker tape showed the reader that
Harvey couldn’t be free from such kind of job. Although there was someone
wanted to talk with him, the thick paper was still on his hand.
"You are losing your mind, Pitcher,"
said Maxwell. "Why should I have given you any such instructions? Miss
Leslie has given perfect satisfaction during the year she has been here. The
place is hers as long as she chooses to retain it. There's no place open here,
madam. Countermand that order with the agency, Pitcher, and don't bring any
more of 'em in here."
The silver heart left the office, swinging and
banging itself independently against the office furniture as it indignantly
departed. Pitcher seized a moment to remark to the bookkeeper that the
"old man" seemed to get more absent-minded and forgetful every day of
the world.
These paragraphs showed the reader that Harvey became forgetful day
after day. Besides, Harvey became easy to be angry when there was a problem
with his clerk. Actually at that time the clerk misunderstood about Harvey’s
instruction. The clerk thought that his boss was disappointed with the
stenographer and wanted to get the new one. Therefore, the clerk brought a new
stenographer. Unfortunately, his boss was angry at him because at the fact
Harvey was really satisfied with Miss Leslie, his stenographer who had worked
at his office for one year. This kind of angriness usually happened in a big
town like New York which had a rush hour.
The rush and pace of business grew fiercer and
faster. On the floor they were pounding half a dozen stocks in which Maxwell's
customers were heavy investors. Orders to buy and sell were coming and going as
swift as the flight of swallows. Some of his own holdings were imperilled, and
the man was working like some high-geared, delicate, strong machine--strung to
full tension, going at full speed, accurate, never hesitating, with the proper
word and decision and act ready and prompt as clockwork. Stocks and bonds,
loans and mortgages, margins and securities--here was a world of finance, and
there was no room in it for the human world or the world of nature.
In this part, the author showed the reader that a man worked like a
strong machine. He never thought about how much time and energy that he
sacrificed for his work. People seemed never got recreation or some refreshment
in their life.
He dashed into the inner office with the haste
of a short trying to cover. He charged upon the desk of the stenographer.
She looked up at him with a smile. A soft pink
crept over her cheek, and her eyes were kind and frank. Maxwell leaned one elbow
on her desk. He still clutched fluttering papers with both hands and the pen
was above his ear.
"Miss Leslie," he began hurriedly,
"I have but a moment to spare. I want to say something in that moment.
Will you he my wife? I haven't had time to make love to you in the ordinary
way, but I really do love you. Talk quick, please--those fellows are clubbing
the stuffing out of Union Pacific."
In this paragraph,
Harvey could ignore his crowded for a while when he attracted with a beautiful
woman. She is Miss Leslie. However, Harvey still forced Miss Leslie to answer
his proposal quickly because he had so much works.
"Don't you understand?" said Maxwell,
restively. "I want you to marry me. I love you, Miss Leslie. I wanted to
tell you, and I snatched a minute when things had slackened up a bit. They're
calling me for the 'phone now. Tell 'em to wait a minute, Pitcher. Won't you,
Miss Leslie?"
Here, Harvey had to
express his feeling straightly because there were many calls waiting for him.
The romanticism aspect were less in this moment. However, Harvey could do
unusual thing. That was postponing all the calls. This kind of attitude was
also usually done by busy people when they had to do the same thing. That was
expressing their love feeling to their beloved people.
CHAPATER III
CONCLUSION
From the analysis
conducted, it can be concluded that O. Henry had been successful to show the busy
life of New York people. Throughout the story "A Romance of a Busy
Broker," O Henry used characterization to explain and exaggerate the
characters in the story.This story was well done to describe how busy the
worker at that time until they became forgetful from the special moment that
they had ever done.
APPENDIX
(Summary of the literary Work)
In
the story "A Romance of a Busy Broker", Harvey Maxwell an old, very
busy Manhattan broker becomes overwhelmed with work and becomes very forgetful.
His assistant Mr. Pitcher misunderstands him and call for a replacement
stenographer to replace Miss. Leslie. Until Mr. Maxwell finds out and gets
upset, telling Mr. Pitcher that Miss. Leslie will hold the job of stenographer
until she can’t anymore. When lunch hour for the office comes around Mr.
Maxwell relies that he is in love with Miss. Leslie. He asks her to marry him,
only to find out that they got married the previous night at a small church
around the corner from the office
