IRWLE VOL. 6 No.

II July 2010 1

Mirror-Writing: Social-realism in the short stories of

O.Henry and Prem Chand
- Tanweer Jehan

All writers are true inheritors and by virtue of their creative power
contribute in the very process of inheritance. They take whether
consciously or not, what their predecessors pass on to them, through the
great treasure house of thought and feeling registered in their works.
Then from their space in time and place, the socio-political conditions of
the immediate world influencing their creativity and their contribution in
turn, impact the lives of people ; individual lives and also certain section
or class of society. This becomes more evident in times of political or
socio-economic crises in the lives of nations when they are fighting for
freedom, civil rights or some major changes are taking place in the social
or political structure of society. Writers as social-realists reflect and thus
cause changes in the society at a given point in time. This makes their
writings more relevant and valuable for the future generations.
19thcentury and early 20thcentury witnessed this paradigm shift
across cultures and literature written there around saw it projected with
sincerity and firmness of purpose. In this article I take to find the
changes that were taking place and how these were faithfully reflected in
the short narrative writings of two master narrators, about their
respective cultures and socio-political inheritance-O. Henry and Prem
Chand. The short stories selected here are chosen to highlight the social
realism in their writings.
Expansionism and political crisis alongside the social
transformation, was an important historical fact of United States in the
19th century. This was a consequential result of industrial
revolution.America in the early century was a loosely structured society
and every section, every state, every locality; every group could pretty
much go its own way. But gradual changes in technology and in the
economy were bringing all the elements of the country into steady and
close contact, better connectivity _transportation and the word
(communication), played an important role in breaking through the
barriers and breaking down isolation _ canals, toll roads, and rail roads
on the one hand and publication of penny newspapers, and telegraph
system gave a greater sense of togetherness to the people while big
business provided order and stability. Yet the other side of the story was
that for many Americans this change from a largely rural, slow moving,
fragmented, national social order in the mid-century was abrupt and
painful which was often resisted. Unfortunately sometimes resentment
against change manifested itself in harsh attacks upon those who
appeared to be the agents of change especially the newly arrived
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 2

immigrants who seemed to personify the forces that were altering the
older America. In 1840’s vigorous natives’ movements appeared in most
cities and the anti-foreign fever reached its peak in 1850’s when huge
numbers of Irish and German immigrants of the previous decade became
eligible to vote .This so-called know-nothing movement directed against
both immigrants and the catholic church , emerged as a powerful
political force in 1854 and increased the resistance to change .Then civil
war was followed by rapid industrialization and urbanization confronted
with new problems including the spread of slums and poverty, the
exploitation of labour,the breakdown of democratic government in the
cities and states with a rapid movement towards financial and industrial
concentration. Many Americans feared that their historic traditions of
responsible democratic government and free economic opportunity for all
were being destroyed by gigantic combinations of economic and political
power.
In 1890’s and later there were numerous movements for reform
and reconstruction on the local ,state and national levels that were too
diverse ,and sometimes too mutually antagonistic ever to coalesce into a
national crusade. But they were generally motivated by common
assumptions and goals_ e.g., the repudiation of individualism and
laissez-faire, concern for under privileged and downtrodden, the
changing role of women and their particular problems in the wake of
changing social structure, the restoration of government to the rank and
file and the enlargement of governmental power in order to bring
industry and finance under a measure of popular control. Also to be seen
were a new generation of economists ,sociologists and political scientists
, undermining the philosophical foundations of the laissez –faire state
and constructing a new ideology to justify democratic collectivism; and a
new school of social workers was establishing settlement houses and
going into the slums to discover the extent of human degradation .Allied
with them was a growing body of ministers , priests, and rabbi’s-
proponents of what was called the social Gospel –who struggled to arouse
the social concerns and consciences of their parishioners .Finally,
journalists called muck- rakers probed into the dark corners of American
life and carried their message of reform through mass circulation
newspapers and magazines. Their contribution was significant and
brought an awakening leading to positive measures taken by the people
at the helm of affairs_ brought about by the publication of revealing
stories with gory details of American life full of suffering and pain, at this
point of time. Some of these were the best and most memorable pieces of
literature born out of worst of times and experiences.
William Sydney Porter, who wrote under the pen name O.Henry,
remains one of the most widely read American short narrative writers...
master alike of tragedy ,romance extravaganza and tales of the mystery
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 3

of common life with a special skill in stories of the supernatural. Starting

with Cabbages and Kings in 1904,O.Henry established himself as a
writer with his second book The Four Million(1906).The third volume The
Triumph Lamp (1907) ,contained some of his best stories of Newyork and
Heart of The West is a collection of stories based on his experiences in
Texas. Most of his stories depict the life he shared in a constantly
shifting scenario suggestive of the city’s colourful, endlessly varied facets.
The life he portrays is the real New York of his day with its endless
allure, its thousands of beckoning contrarieties and denials and true to
life characters. The toiling masses ,the new work culture ,women-over-
the-counter, the laughter shading off into signs of sadness and even
despair.O.Henry vividly pictures the given New York culture …the police
,the church, the welfare agencies and the labour unions tend rather to
thrust the innocent (for whose love and protection society creates
them),into the maw of predatory individuals(Elsie in New York).thus poor
Elsie, a little peacherino who might have had a number of safely
respectable jobs, but for her protectors ,winds up as a model whose fate
(O.Henry assures us by quoting Dickens) is to be numbered among the
“lost your Excellency”. While Elsie admires herself in Russian sables in
the mirror, her employer, Otter is gleefully reserving a private dining
room for two, with “the usual band and the 85 Johannisburger with
roast.”……and O.Henry concludes painfully with a dig at the individuals
and the society:
Lost, Associations, and Societies,
Lost, Right Reverends and wrong
Reverends’ of every order, lost
Reformers and law makers, born
With heavenly compassion in your
Hearts, but with a reverence of
Money in your souls. And lost thus
Around us every day. (Collected stories of O.Henry. p.726.)
In his stories we find suffering damsels, joyless existence of the
shop girls a picture of the new life culture- representative of the changes
that gave a new look to and affected every walk of life in turn resulting in
the changed attitudes and thinking of members of this new emerging
society and their values. His short stories reflect a period just becoming
fully aware of the hardening class structure which a burgeoning
industrial era had imposed on America’s democratic society and which
the writer details so minutely and accurately. Hotels ,café bars, cheap
restaurants,theatres and roof-gardens were an important fact of the
19th,20th century New York culture and many of O.Henry characters
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 4

seek refuge from the darkness of their existence to these “places-of-

quick-flight”.O.Henry himself was a frequent visitor and preserved their
atmosphere in his stories. The sociological import in his stories is too
visible. In Brick Dust Row and An Unfinished Story his deep concern for
the unfortunates, especially the victims of environment is highlighted.
Where the former depicts the damaging effects on the lives of the
inhabitants of inadequate and squalid surroundings The Guilty Party
attempts to show that slum children, forced to play in the streets, are
defeated in life even before they start. He paints it with exactness:
“Outside was one of those crowded streets of the east side,
in which, as twilight falls Satan sets up his recruiting office.
A mighty host of children danced, ran and played in the
streets. Some in rags ,some in clean white and beribboned,
some wild and restless as young hawks, some gentle-faced
and shrinking some shrieking rude and sinful words ,some
listening awed, but soon grown familiar to embrace-here
were the children playing in the corridors of the house of sin.
Above the play ground forever hovered a great bird...the bird
was known to humorists as the stork .But people of Chrystie
street were better ornithologists. They called it a Vulture”.
(Collected stories of O.Henry.p712.)
Elsewhere he makes this realistic depiction of situation with such
ease:
And then followed the big city’s biggest shame ,its most
ancient and rotten surviving canker, its pollution and
disgrace ,its blight and perversion, its forever infamy and
guilt,forstered,unreproved and cherished ,handed down from
a long ago century of the basest barbarity-the Hue and Cry.
Nowhere but in the big cities does it survive and here most of
all, where the ultimate perfection of culture, citizenship and
alleged superiority joins, bawling, in the chase.” (Collected
stories of O.Henry, p.714.)
The Guilty Party is a grim tale of parental neglect-a serious issue
and relevant even today.O.Henry did not ignore even shop girls’ .And so
in An Unfinished Story –that ends with the author at the bar of judgment
being asked if he belongs to a certain group:
“Not on your immortality “, said I.”I’m only the fellow that
set fire to an orphan asylum, and murdered a blind man for
his pennies.” (Collected stories of O.Henry .p .692.)
It is said that these stories caused Theodore Roosevelt to admit
that it was O.Henry who started him on his campaign for office girls.
Often we find his characters are under a strain of some kind and under a
delusion-these in fact were the toiling millions and his stories are a true
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 5

criticism of the American way of life and American capitalism that made
the Soviets to issue a commemorative stamp in his honor on his
centennial anniversary. story after story he reflects the changing
American society of 19th and early 20th century and what this change
meant to the people and how it affected their lives…bringing out the
suffering and struggle against what they found difficult to adjust to and
frustration for what they failed to comprehend and tragically often
resulted in pathetic death or renunciation.
India of 19th century presented a confused and complex socio-
political and cultural situation-the time of British rule in India. The
administration was curious blend-largely Indian in pattern, though it
was now British in direction and superintendence. The Emperor being
replaced by the mystical entity, the company Bahadur; and its
representative, the governor general, moved about with equal pomp.
Though the officers acted in a mughal spirit, the higher direction was
exclusively European and the administration at sub district and village
level went on much as before. Yet change was there in the feel of the air.
The commercial classes generally benefitted but the Indian industry was
sacrificed to the new machine industries of Britain and ruined such
ancient crafts as cotton and silk weaving .Government support was
declared for the cultivation of western learning and science through the
medium of English. The complex state of affairs was discernable from
some Indian attitude where some Indians rejected all things western,
retiring to their houses and estates to dream of the past, there were
those who were clients and employees of the British as they had been of
the Mughals and the Turks before them, without any intention of giving
up their traditional culture. Yet there were those who, while remaining
good Hindus or Muslims, began to study the ideas and the spirit of the
west, with a view to incorporate in their own society anything that
seemed desirable. Socially and economically there was much dislocation
in the land holding class all over northern and western India as a result
of British land-revenue settlements, setting group against group. There
was thus a suppressed tension in the country side, ready to breakout
whenever governmental pressure might be reduced. A combination of
factors produced, besides the normal tensions endemic in India, an
uneasy, fearful, suspicious, resentful frame of mind and a wind of unrest
ready to fan the flames of any actual physical outbreak.
The six decades between the end of the “mutinous” war of 1857-
58 and the conclusion of World War I, saw both the peak of British
imperial power in India and the birth of nationalist agitation against it.
The period was haunted by dark memories of the “mutiny” between
British and “native” communities throughout India. The caste ridden
Hindus, with such tragic and embarrassing customs as sati and Muslims
with their frustration and growing sense of exclusion from the main
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 6

stream politics, together made things disastrous and the society a

pathetic picture of suffering. This was reflected in the writings of the
period with all sincereity, particularly the short narrative that appeared
in newspapers and later got published separately.
Munshie PremChand is credited with having created the genre of
serious short story and transforming fiction in both Urdu and Hindi
languages-from rambling romantic chronicle or didactic tales to a high
level of realistic narrative. His nearly three decade career span 1907-
1936,was politically and socially important for India and was
enlightening for its thinkers and writers who were passing through a
phase of immense western literary influence .Socio-cultural ambience
was undergoing a radical change and the traditional and modern
exchanged places.
In his earlier writings Duniya ka Anmol Rattan,Sheikh
Mehmood,yehi Mera watan,Silay Matum and Ishke Duniya or Hubi
Wattan, stories like Bade Ghar ke Beti, Garib ke Hai, he often turns to
the past that provides him an opportunity to criticize foreign oppression
without singling out the British-(yet this did not save his first collection
of stories from being banned in 1909).The plots of most of these early
tales, full of chivalric idealism and noble sacrifices, disguises the
extraordinary adventures, and shows the influence of the Urdu Dustan-
his favourite youth reading. The early Rajput period with their exemplary
valour is recreated in many of his stories. In Dunya ka Anmol Ratan, the
writer declares that every drop of bloodshed in the service of nation is an
invaluable jewel. This was written when he was a school teacher and
freedom movement turning in protests and processions moved him a lot.
The contemporary realities and a profound sense of social inequalities
permeate his works of this period-when Britishers had strengthened
their nefarious designs of plundering the state economy and the
condition of common man was going from bad to worse. In his stories he
also projects the social ills rampant among the ignorant masses who
awkwardly stood at the political and historical crossroads .Prem chand
like a missionary cautioned against an evil alien influence and carefully
steers readers into a world of farmers ,labourers,clerks,(Babus)officers
dhoti clad as well as those donning the western attire ,village girls
,daughters of the rich ,sane as well as scatter-brains, honest as well as
dishonest ,Thakurs,Pundits ,the exploiters and the exploited the world as
he saw it around him and as he visualized it.Punchayet ,is a brilliant
depiction of cultural rootedness –where traditionally people
(masses)believed that God himself spoke through the “Panchas”- where
one rose to the position of natural justice …incapacitating one of any
selfishness or foul play .The institution is considered sacred and every
word of the Panchas respected and revered.
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 7

Prem Chand relates the inner conflict in the minds of individuals

to the social environment. Even family relationships are viewed as being
determined by social forces where ,on the one hand ,we have the writer
projecting the industrialist and the successful professional man _the
doctor, the lawyer ,the financer and others who have climbed the social
ladder _corresponding to these urban types ,on the other hand ,we have
in the country side the zamindar ,the money lender ,the holy man ,(who
is also a professional man in his own way).In general the exploiters and
the workers, the cultivators ,the landless labourer ,the casual wage
earner and the tenant from whom the landlord can demand forced
labour.Then there is the harijan – the untouchable who led a life of
humiliation and perpetual pain and torment.Sadgati depicts the trauma
of these unfortunates whose very existence is a bitter comment on the
Indian caste system and the traditions and customs of Indian society.
Here a Brahmin ,a professional priest who accepts money and gifts from
his clients for performing sacrificial ceremonies and for advising them
regarding auspicious and inauspicious dates, subjects a poor chamar
Dukhi to ruthless physical labour refusing him even water to drink
,leading to his tragic death. when the dead body of this poor untouchable
man is lying in the way to public well ,it seems to him and the Brahmins
of the village an unpleasant, intolerable site .The corpse is to be removed
but the big question is “how”?.The chamars insist on a police inquiry into
the death of Dukhi and refuse to take it away…and there is no question
Brahmins will touch it .Then comes the ugly turn in events –jackals,
vultures and dogs devour the mangled corpse while the Brahmin sprinkle
holy Ganges water all over the house for purification and reads a hymn
in praise of the Goddess Durga.Prem chands sensitivity to the injustice
and the suffering of the victims of prejudice is portrayed in minute
details that makes Sadgati a well written piece of the ugliness of
shackled minds. The fact remains that he was for change that would get
Indian society out of sick customs and traditions because these
hampered the growth and progress of different sections of society. He
does not hesitate to question even the freedom that fails to serve this
purpose .His stories can also be read as critical comments on life. For
him literature was a criticism of life- with its chief function of presenting
an honest critical view of the truth or the reality outside and around.
Kafan is another story about the bitter reality of our world .Here poverty
stricken father and son collect money for the shroud of the daughter-in-
law of the house and by the time they collect it they are too tired and
thirsty and spend the entire begged sum on cheap liquor. They get drunk
and delirious; rationalizing that providing pleasure for the feeling, and
living is a better way of spending money than getting a shroud for the
feeling less dead. When Madhavs (the dead woman’s husband) euphoria
subsides, he feels dejected and pessimistic and breaking down talks of
how painful was her (Budhias) death .To console his son his father Ghisu
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 8

,asks him to be happy that his wife was released from the web of this
transitory world and that she was fortunate to have broken worldly
bonds so quickly. After which they sing and dance, jump, leap and fall
down unconscious.
With Prem chand the religious and the political motifs are shown
to be based in the ultimate analysis on economic considerations. The
Mahant, Swami, Panda and the prohit are shown as clever men who
know how to play upon the religious fears, hopes and superstitions of the
ordinary men in order to enrich them. The same is true of the fake
nationalists, the self seeking vote catcher. In his stories the major trends
of the change such as the nationalist movement especially one influenced
by the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi ,the new concept of social progress
and the consequential reform movements ,a new religious consciousness
based on the rejection of customs ridden practices ,shallow rituals and
superstitions together with the ideal of economic justice, equality based
broadly on the concept of socialist society , the struggles of the peasants
and workers against exploitation, find expression. Prem Chand thus
makes his writings representational and reflective of the time, registering
the importance of historical events in the life of the people and the
nation. He evolved a new fictional world of feelings emotions, ideas,
characters and situations….standing tall in the gallery of the great
writers of the genre of short narrative writing.
Thus we find the two master narrators through the art of social
realism in their writings , projecting and leaving this wealth of ideas for
future generations, their deep concern for their people- different sections
of the society and different groups ,men, women alike , who were
grappling with the high tide of change , brought about by the political
events on the shifting sands of time. Both perhaps were less concerned
with politics but the sociological aspect of these happenings which often
meant immense suffering and pain of the weak and the down trodden,
the less privileged and the lowly born as a whole, prompted the
commitment of these agents of change. Man remained the subject of
their narratives - benefiting from the wisdom of their predecessors like
true inheritors, they churned out what made them more than mere
writers, for their future generations to look up to and revere.
IRWLE VOL. 6 No. II July 2010 9

Note
All text quotes of O.Henry’s stories are from Collected Stories of
O.Henry. New Delhi, Rupa and Co.1988.

Tanweer Jehan
Sr.Asstt.Professor
Department of English.
University of Kashmir.
South campus.