An Unfinished Story by O. Henry is a short story. An Unfinished Story follows the life of Dulcie, a shopgirl, who gets paid $6 a week, and how she survives in such conditions. I have read many of O. Henry’s short stories over the years like- The Last Leaf and The Gift of Magi, which I really liked. So, it was an easy choice for me to pick another one.
The story begins with an unnamed narrator, who is struggling to tell his story and keeps getting distracted or is not able to narrate a meaningful story. The story then shifts the focus to Dulcie. She works at a shop for a minimum wage pay that she is barely able to live on. She feels isolated, and some days she has to go hungry to make her money last longer. She tells her friend that she has a date with a man named Piggy. He often takes out girls on dates that are financially struggling. Dulcie is a little excited to get ready and go out to a good place for dinner. She even spends some money on shopping. In her little room, as she begins to get ready the weight of the implication of this date weighs her down. At the last moment, she refuses to go out with him. The story ends here for Dulcie.
The story is incomplete as the title suggests, for Dulcie and the unnamed narrator. The story has a flow, but it is left unfinished. Because that is how life works. I think it talks about unpredictability in life and even in writing. Both the characters, the unnamed narrator along with Dulcie are struggling with something. For Dulcie, she has to ration every single penny, so that she can pay her rent and have enough meals, which sometimes doesn’t work. The narrator is struggling to say anything meaningful, that is the struggle in his artistic process.
An Unfinished Story by O. Henry uses unfinished as a powerful theme or a symbol throughout this story. The narrator is not able to finish his story. It is like life. There are so many moments in human life that are left unfinished. The unachieved dreams and incomplete moments are something, I think everyone can relate to. This same uncertainty is reflected in the creative process of writing. The unfinished drafts and even stories, that are simply left life for whatever reason. It is a very ‘art imitates life’ based theme. The story has the wit and charm of all the writer’s stories.
Like other O. Henry stories, I have read, I really enjoyed reading An Unfinished Story. I didn’t know what to expect in the story when I started, but it turned out deeper and more meaningful than I had expected. It talks about a lot of social and existential issues of life and art together. I wanted to know more about Dulcie and what happened in her life ahead, even though I realized it had been left incomplete on purpose. I liked reading this short story.
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