An Inevitable Tragedy

【Abstract】： The Furnished Room was written by O. Henry， who was a prolific short-story writer known for his ironic plot twists and surprise ending. Most people discussed this story from the perspectives of O. Henry’s writing style or the surprising ending. However， the author of this paper analyzes the hero’s ending in this story. It’s not a surprising but an inevitable ending for the boy. The boy’s fragile character caused his death and the indifferent environment accelerated his death.

【Key words】： the hero’s ending； fragile character； indifferent environment

1.Introduction

The content of The Furnished Room is that a boy came to someplace to find his lover. It’s a place where most people were homeless. While they had a hundred homes. Because they flit from one furnished room to another. The boy found a hotel to stay after ringing twelfth house. After five months vainly searching， the boy was sad， disappointed and tired. He felt a smell of his lover in this room and even heard that smell was talking to him. He ran to confirm with the housekeeper and the answer was no again. The boy was crashed and suicided himself in the room. However， in the end of the story， it was revealed that the girl for whom the boy was searching also suicided in that room one week before.

Given the dismal atmosphere and tragic ending in the story， it’s perhaps the bleakest of O. Henry’s best-known stories， which is different from his other stories that were written with a humorous and comical plot. And this is also the value of this story where most people discussed. However， people paid little attention to the boy. In this paper， the author will analyze the cause of the boy’s tragic ending.

2.The boy’s fragile character

With such a musty atmosphere and his complicated mood， it’s easy for the boy to think some nice things and have hallucinations. But he was too obsessed in his illusion. It’s the odor of mignonette that gave him a light of hope. With hopeful faith he searched the room， but the result was negative. The housekeeper’s answer drained his faith completely. The boy was too fragile to bear the fact that his lover was not here. With such a big fluctuation of mood， the boy was breakdown. He had no hope for founding his lover， and felt hopeless to the world. In order not to hear the negative answer any more， he chose death to escape the truth， which revealed a timid and cowardly boy. In addition， the boy was not sane. How could an odor call him？ It’s absurd that a scent could make a sound. It must have been his illusion. But he allowed these thoughts to fly and he even thought that was real. What a stubborn and illiberal boy！ For a moment， he calmed down and didn’t believe that an odor could call him. But he preferred to believe it rather than to come back to reality. Maybe he was willing to live in this hopeful dreamland.

If the boy were not so desperately to find his lover， if he could see the mignonette odor from different view， if he had slept immediately in the room after the housekeeper’s leaving， he would have not suicided in the room. But his character didn’t allow him doing these hypothesis. In some way， it can be concluded that his character caused his death， because he was too fragile and couldn’t bear great shocks.

3.External factors

When first met with the housekeeper， the boy thought of an unwholesome and surfeited worm that had eaten its nut to a hollow shell and now sought to fill the vacancy with edible lodgers， which revealed a greedy and ruthless figure and laid foundation for the following plot. During the conversation between the housekeeper and the boy， we can’t find anything wrong with the housekeeper， let alone the connection with the girl. In the end of the story， we know the girl also suicided in that room， which gave us the impression that the housekeeper was the direct murderer who killed the boy because she hid the truth. In order to earn money， the selfish housekeeper lied to the boy in fear that the boy would not rent the room in which died a person lately even if the boy asked her twice about the girl. If the housekeeper had told the boy truth， the boy would not become crushed and choose death. Admittedly， it’s the boy’s low ability of bearing shocks that caused his death. But the housekeeper’s indifferent attitude accelerated the boy’s death， which directly caused the boy’s death.

The other external factor that accelerated the boy’s death was the musty environment. Though they sang “home， sweet home”， the people here were homeless. In this great， water-girt city， people were just like particles shifting in the monstrous quicksand. What’s worse， the furnished rooms were full of scattered signs remained by guests， which made people think of their sorrows. The atmosphere here either in the city or the room was musty and indifferent， which gave people no hope for the world. Therefore， maybe it’s a good choice for the boy to suicide himself. He didn’t need to live in this hopeless world any more. It’s not necessary for him to wait miracles in this place where miracles would not happen forever. Besides， People would forget it only a few days later. Nobody would care about the boy’s death just like the girl’s death， it meant nothing in this place for that it’s not strange to find a ghost or two among all these vagrant guests.

4.Conclusion

From the contents discussed above， we can draw the conclusion that the boy’s character killed him. Though he lived in a musty and hopeless world and people there were homeless， indifferent and merciless， a positive person would not chose death. The boy was too fragile and cowardly to bear the fact that his hope was disappeared again. He was so negative when meeting shocks. It’s said in The Old Man and The Sea by Hemingway， a man can be destroyed but not defeated. But the boy was defeated by himself and also destroyed himself.

Bibliography：

[1] O. Henry， Selected Stories of O. Henry， Shanghai Sanlian Publishing， 2010.

[2] 李英，當木樨花香飄散時—解讀《帶家具出租的房間》的悲劇性，黃岡師范學院學報，2009.

[3] 王利琳，心中的無花果樹—評《帶家具出租的房間》，文學語言學研究，2014.