Complete Stylistic Analysis

The story under analysis is written by O.Henry a well-known American writer. He is famous for his short stories which he wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. Typical for his stories is a twist of plot which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance.

O. Henry's best known work is perhaps the much anthologized 'The Ransom of Red Chief'. Besides, he is famous for 'The Gift of the Magi', 'One Dollar's Worth', 'The Last Leaf'.

The story concerns the young woman who works hard to earn a living. She is little and young, but she is very mature. She can see the beauty of the surrounding world even through the vail of the hardships she faces every day. It is a strong-willed woman who does her best not to lose hope and tries to survive.

The basic theme of the story is the contrast between the rich and the poor, their way of life and attitude to each other. The author shows the same situation from two different points of view lighting out in this way the hardships of the poverty and the scorn disdain of wealth.

The events in the analyzed story happen in the Mrs. Parker’s house where people from different social backgrounds rent rooms. The setting of the events is realistic. It is presented in a detailed way. It provides the background for action and contributes to our understanding of the characters. The Skylight Room where Miss Leeson, the protagonist, lived is described as ‘At night my room is like the shaft of a coal mine..; Its four bare walls seemed to close in upon you like the sides of a coffin.’ Which immediately associates with darkness, sadness and hopelessness. It describes the heroine’s feelings, the toughness of her life. But even in this dim there is a ray of hope, a window through which you saw a square blue of infinity, where ‘Billy Jackson look like the big diamond pin that Night fastens her kimono with.’

From the point of view of presentation the text is the 3rd person narrative.

The characters we meet in the story under analysis are Miss Leeson, the protagonist, Mrs. Parker, the landlady. Except these two characters we also meet the other roomers of Mrs. Parker’s house. They are Mr. Skidder (an unacknowledged playwright, who after meeting Miss Leeson chooses her for the start part in his new play), Mr. Hoover ,who was ‘forty-five, fat, flush and foolish’ and fell in love with the protagonist. Miss Longnecker, an extremely arrogant school teacher and Miss Dorn who worked in a department store.

 Miss Elsie Leeson is ‘a very little girl, with eyes and hair that had kept on growing after she had stopped’. It is a good natured woman, with her appearance people usually cheer up, she is extremely kind and tender. Miss Leeson is a typist; she is a poor little working girl and is looking for a place to live. She is rather lonely but finds friends in her roomers. The author gives an indirect description of Miss Leeson but reading the text we understand how determined and at the same time fragile she is. She tries to fight the reality, finds amusement in simple things and even hope in the ordinary star which is always there for her even when ‘there wasn't anything else but darkness to look at. She gives the name to the star ‘Billy Jackson’ and it’s evident that is not just a name, it means something more for her. This mystery is half-opened in the very end of the story when we meet a young medico whose name is ‘William Jackson’ and who is apparently not indifferent and well-accustomed to Miss Leeson. But maybe it’s just a coincidence?...

The plot of the story runs as follows: the exposition, the rising action, the climax and resolution.

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.’

The types of speech employed by the author of the analyzed story is a narration with elements of description and dialogue.

In order to reveal the atmosphere of the story vividly and convincingly the author resorts to the following devices. Similes:  Its four bare walls seemed to close in upon you like the sides of a coffin. At night my room is like the shaft of a coal mine- the most accurately describe the conditions in which the main heroine had to live. A case of implied similes are found in Clara’s description: A dark goblin seized her, mounted a Stygian stairway, thrust her into a vault with a glimmer of light in its top and muttered the menacing and cabalistic words "Two dollars!". The maid is a dark-skinned woman with a bad temper, that’s why she is compared to a dark goblin;  his fatness hovered above her like an avalanche is about Mr. Hoover who was in love with Miss Leeson and hoped he had a chance to get her as his wife. Gradually Mrs. Parker crumpled as a stiff garment that slips down from a nail. – describes Mrs. Parker’s state after a young doctor let loose the practised scalpel of his tongue, which is another case of implied simile in order to describe the harshness of the words which he had said to the landlady. It makes Billy Jackson look like the big diamond pin that Night fastens her kimono with. This sentence consists of three different devices. They are simile which expresses the beauty of the star comparing it to the diamond, a metaphor and a case of personification.  Other metaphors  ‘let her heart melt away in the drip of cold refusals transmitted through insolent office boys; She was sunk in a pit of blackness and a hyperbole there wasn't anything else but darkness to look at’ emphasis the difficulties Elsie had to deal with and how frustrated and depressed she was.

Besides, the author uses many epithets in the story: hideous and culpable poverty; blue infinity; heavy eyelids – highlight the heroine’s feelings and the hardships of her life, when incredulous, pitying, sneering, icy stare;  demon's smile reveal the true nature of Mrs. Parker. 

The case of asyndeton is found in the story to add some elevation to it: Tune the pipes to the tragedy of tallow, the bane of bulk, the calamity of corpulence.

There is also a case of allusion To the train of Momus are the fat men remanded which shows the reference to the Greek God of mockery.

Summing up the analysis of the story “The Skylight Room” one should say that O. Henry brilliantly uses a wide range of stylistic devices to reveal main character’s nature and the main idea of the story. The story makes the reader think about the life, its values, whether they are material, as Mrs. Parker thought or the main essence of life is revealed through the simple things which can bring the spirit up even in the worst time.