The Plot

The plot of the story runs as follows:

The exposition of the story is at the very its beginning. The reader is introduced to the landlady, Mrs. Parker who shows her apartment to a client. It is an author’s introduction that describes the usual model of Mrs. Parker’s behavior when presenting the rooms. The situation is not too pleasant which at once gives the reader the general impression about the woman.

The rising action starts when we meet Miss Leeson, a young tender woman who wants to get a room but is very short of money. She has to endure the landlady’s behavior, her attitude when she finds out that she was ‘neither a doctor nor a dentist’ and humiliation when she is led to the worst room in the house which cost only 2 dollars.

Despite all the difficulties the poor girl manages to find happiness even in such a bad situation. In this house she finds many friends, she spends a good time there and even finds a star in the sky which is seen through the skylight in her room. She gives it a special name because it ‘looks like the big diamond pin that Night fastens her kimono with’.

Having lost her job Miss Leeson is exhausted by the constant search for work and lack of food comes home one day and being too weak to undress falls upon the iron cot. The only thing she can see is her star, Billy Jackson, shining down on her, calm and bright. She thinks how beautiful and special it is ‘But you kept where I could see you most of the time up there when there wasn’t anything else but darkness to look at…’.

And here is where the climax comes. At 10 o’clock the next day a maid found Miss Leeson locked in her room. Somebody called the ambulance. When the young medico arrived and heard the name of the patient he hurried up the stairs and took care of her himself.

The resolution of the story is expressed through the narrator’s thoughts. There was nothing known about Miss Leeson or the strange behavior of the doctor, only a few words ‘Dr. William Jackson, the ambulance physician who attended the case, says the patient will recover.’.