Hearts and Hands by O.Henry Question and answers

HEARTS AND HANDS

Q. 1 What is the conflict and twist in the story ’HEARTS AND HANDS’?

ANS. O. Henry is a short story writer famous for his ironic twist at the end of his stories. In Hearts and Hands, the conflict and twist revolve around two men who are handcuffed to one another on a train in Denver. One of them is young and handsome, the other is older and glum-looking. They sit across from a pretty young lady dressed very elegantly. Her name is Miss Fairchild. She recognizes the younger man as someone who used to run in the same social circles, Mr. Easton. Miss Fairchild implies that she used to have romantic feelings or attraction to Mr. Easton. There is a hint that Mr. Easton feels uncomfortable and embarrassed that she has recognized him and started talking to him.

Before he can say much else, the glum-faced may stop him and tells the girl that Mr. Easton is a United States marshal who is taking the glum-faced man to prison at Leavenworth. He has been sentenced to seven years for counterfeiting. Miss Fairchild seems to be impressed by Mr. Easton's new job because he is now a 'dashing western hero.'

The lady starts talking about irrelevant and fluffy things and Mr. Easton seems to be becoming more and more uncomfortable. The glum faded man asks Mr. Easton to take him out to the smoker car for a smoke, which he complies with. The excuse allows the man to leave Miss Fairchild.

When they leave, the point of view shifts to two different passengers who had been listening to the conversation between Miss Fairchild, Mr. Easton, and the glum-faced man. One of them remarks on how young the marshal is and the other corrects the mistakes. It was actually the glum-faced man who was the marshal and Mr. Easton was going to prison for seven years for counterfeiting money. The detail was that Mr. Easton's right hand was cuffed to the marshall's left hand when both men were right-handed.

Q. 2 Justify the little 'Hearts and Hands'.

ANS. The story 'Hearts and Hands' deals with how two handcuffed man befool a beautiful young lady to avoid some embarrassing situation. The story begins in a simple way, but the entire situation turns ironic as Miss Fairchild is deliberately misguided and duped. In a compartment of a train, Miss Fairchild meets Easton accidentally. She recognizes Mr. Easton s her old friend from among the passengers. She is very glad to see him first, but she immediately becomes shocked at the discovery that her friend is in handcuff. Easton is also utterly embarrassed. Both of them at that time find themselves in an awkward position. Just at that time, Easton’s companion comes to his rescue. He indirectly introduces Easton as the marshal. Then he tells her that he (real marshal) is being taken to Leavenworth prison.

After knowing that Mr. Easton is a marshal, she feels relieved and happy to think that her old friend is leading an adventurous and prosperous life. She then starts talking in a free and frank manner and at one stage she becomes emotional and amorous. The situation is ironic here as the pretty lady cannot realize that what has gone wrong with Easton. Rather she becomes happy to know his marshalship and feels romantic. As she cannot become aware of the real fact, she becomes close to Mr. Easton and tells about herself. In this way, the situation takes another turn. The real marshal observes that both the lady and Mr. Easton are having a very close relationship and he feels that M. Easton may reveal truth during a conversation with the lady and may create trouble for him and the lady. The real marshal does not want to see them falling into a horrible situation again. He again saves the lady and Mr. Easton from being humiliated. He thinks of taking leave of the compartment and going out of sight of the young woman. The lady wishes Mr. Easton to come back soon from Leavenworth and meet her again. But he is then taken to the smoker by his companion to get rid of the odd situation. When the Marshal asks Mr. Easton to accompany him to the smoker car, the hearts of both of them were going to very close.

But then comes the climax. The right hand of the convict should be handcuffed with the left hand of the marshal. But it is contrary in the case of Easton and his companion marshal. The right hand of Easton is handcuffed with the left hand of the marshal. One passenger can understand this and says that Mr. Easton is not the marshal; he is the counterfeiter. The story thus unexpectedly comes to an end. When the two hearts were coming close to each other, the hands prevented them from becoming more intimate. Romantic hopes turn into frustration and the funny situation takes a pathetic turn. Thus the title of the story is appropriate.

Q. 3 Describe the theme in the story ‘Hearts and Hands’ by O.Henry.

ANS: In the story Hearts and Hands, we have the theme of appearance, freedom, imitation, honesty, identity and paralysis. The story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading to story the reader realises that Henry may be exploring the theme of appearance. Easton is not who he seems to be. Rather than being the marshal, he is infact the prisoner, a rather charming prisoner too. Apart from the couple at the end of the story nobody else suspects that Easton is the prisoner. It suggests that Easton is good at fooling people. Just as he is going to prison for counterfeiting. Easton is also an imitation which may be the point that Henry is attempting to make. Throughout the story Easton is not only charming to Miss Fairchild but he is polite too. Both these traits would not exactly be traits that one would associated with a criminal. It is Easton’s purpose to fool people (counterfeit money) in life. Something he nearly manages to do with everybody on-board the train. It is also clear to the reader that Easton was once a suitor to Miss Fairchild though it appears whatever occupation ha had at that time was not as good as Miss Fairchild’s other suitor an ambassador. This may be important as though the reader is aware that Easton is counterfeited, he also appears to be playing with his identity. He may not have been a criminal when he was attempting to court Miss Fairchild in Washington.

          Henry also appears to be exploring the theme of freedom. It is clear that Easton has or is about to lose his freedom for seven years but what isn’t as obvious is the fact that Miss Fairchild too has lost her freedom. She much prefers the best to Washington. It is as though she feels stifled in Washington. The setting of the story is also interesting as a train cabin would be confined space and in many ways the cabin act as foreshadowing. Easton is to spend seven years in a confined space, a prison cell. It may also be important that the real marshal does not embarrass Easton by telling Miss Fairchild that Easton is infact a prisoner and not a marshal. By doing so Henry manages to allow Easton that last bit of freedom to express himself as he would like to express himself.

Q. 4 How did Mr. Easton easy himself while encountering the lady? What do you think of Mr. Easton’s being a convict?

ANS. As soon as Mr. Easton with his fellow being entered the couch, he encountered a lady of is old acquaintance. The lady recognized him and got interested in talking to him. Mr. Easton, initially felt a little nervous and embarrassed because of his handcuffs, but anyhow he eased himself and maintained composure and greeted the lady by putting a smile on his face and clasping Miss Fairchild’s finger with his let hand. On seeing the expression of horror and distress on Miss Fairchild’s face he immediately changed his expressions.

          Mr. Easton seemed to have migrated from the East to the West for better prospects. Since life in the west was expensive and required more money, it seemed that Mr. Easton had taken recourse to counterfeiting. As he told Miss Fairchild.

           Mr. Easton had taken an easy recourse to make money and had been counterfeiting before he was caught and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.