Triangular Plot in O. Henry’s After Twenty Years and The Social Triangle

This article is an attempt to analyze the triangular plot in O. Henry’s After Twenty Years and The Social Triangle. The triangular plot is one of O. Henry’s formulas, that is typical plot structures with surprise ending. Through three phases the main three characters are interconnected. Although the character A and C seem unrelated, their inter-relation is revealed at the ending. In the first segment of After Twenty Years, a cop and Bob, A and B, encounter each other. While the cop is shown as a caricatured image, Bob’s explanation about his past serves as self-introduction. In the 2nd segment, Bob meets his old friend, that is C, 20 years after their separation. In the final segment, C turns out to be not Jimmy Wells but a cop. He arrests Bob and hands him a letter indeed written by Wells. In this reversal, it is revealed that the first cop is Wells, who recognized Bob as the wanted criminal, and chose his social duty rather than friendship. In the 1st segment of The Social Triangle, Ikey Snigglefritz an apprentice approaches Billy McMahan, his idol as a district leader. In the 2nd segment, McMahan approaches Cortlan Van Duyckink, his idol. In the final segment, Duyckink spots a poor man, whom he approaches warm-heartedly. The man with whom Duyckink wants to have a relationship turns out to be Snigglefritz. The final revelation reverses the trend the higher class people are worshipped, which satirizes the contemporary social trend oriented toward secular success.