GENERAL METHOD. The immediate story of the water-hole is unfolded
by the “rehearsed” method. What gain results from telling in a city
restaurant an experience of the wilderness? Study the easy and natural
way in which Hardy’s story is brought forward. “You’ve got a concrete
instance back of that” (page 18) signifies that the narrator will
cite a case to prove his point. Recall other stories told for similar
purposes; _e.g._, O. Henry’s “The Theory and the Hound.”
Study the value of the two “I” narrators in the same story, with
respect to increasing verisimilitude and making the reader “believe.”
Kipling’s “The Courting of Dinah Shadd,” for example, uses the same
tactics.
Try re-telling the story by the dramatic method. Omit the enveloping
city setting; transfer Hardy from the first to the third person,
and keep the “spotlight” on him. Begin with the arrival of Hardy at
the home of the Whitneys, and follow the course of events to their
dénouement. What do you lose in richness and effectiveness? Do you gain
anything in vividness or directness?
PLOT. Having studied preceding plot analyses, the student will find
small difficulty in settling upon the main struggle in the action,
the complicating line of interest, and the climactic incident. The
surprise ending, however, calls for comment, in that to achieve it the
author used a natural and yet somewhat novel device. Hardy has been
speaking of himself, of course, in the first person. When, therefore,
he refers to the love that “one of the young engineers” had for Mrs.
Whitney we do not suppose that he and the engineer were identical.
Hence, we receive the shock in the final paragraph: “On the brown flesh
of his forearm, I saw a queer, ragged white cross--the scar a snake
bite leaves when it is cicatrized.” On reflection, one recognizes that
Whitney’s slight deception arose from motives of delicacy, and is more
than justifiable--it pleases, in that it refines Hardy’s character.
Deception as a means, in general, to create surprise is common (See
“The Mastery of Surprise,” _Bookman_, October, 1917); but it is given
here a particularly excellent turn.
Observe, also, that the plot presents a variation of the familiar
“triangle.” The love story, however, is buried beneath the greater
theme; and therefore, although it terminates in a lack of so-called
poetic justice, yet its combination with the main line of interest
gives utmost satisfaction.
CHARACTERS. Mr. Burt has employed a favorite artistic aid, contrast, in
depicting Hardy and Whitney. Does Hardy seem anywhere too modest or too
egotistic for the first person narrator? What value have the friends
who hear Hardy’s story in the full development of Hardy as a character?