_Initial Incident_: Judge Priest sends for Peep O’Day and informs him
that he has inherited eight thousand pounds sterling.
_Steps to the Dramatic Climax_: Peep takes a silver dollar in
advance from the Judge; he invests it in fruit, cake, and candy. He
invites the boys to eat with him. The news of his fortune spreads,
and eventually reaches Percy Dwyer in the workhouse at Evansville,
Indiana (this is the hint at an opposing force, the first suggestion
of a struggle). O’Day begins to “betray the vagaries of a disordered
intellect.” He buys a child’s wagon, soda-pop, etc. With the
youngsters he spends a day in Bradshaw’s woods, playing games. The
day and his behavior are repeated.
_Dramatic Climax_: The apogee “came at the end of two months.” It
consists of three definite things:
a. The arrival of the legacy,
b. The arrival of the one-ring circus,
c. The arrival of Nephew Dwyer.
_Steps to the Climax of Action_: Peep invests two hundred dollars and
takes the youngsters to the circus. His nephew greets him at night;
O’Day bids him a quick good-bye. The nephew goes to an attorney.
Sublette addresses a petition to the Circuit Judge setting forth
that O’Day is of unsound mind and that his nephew prays for the
appointment of a curator over the estate. Judge Priest comes back
from Reelfoot Lake. He talks with O’Day, and says that he may tell on
the witness stand why he has spent the money as he has.
_Climax of Action_: Pages 120-124. O’Day’s speech. The climax of
action is extended here, as was the dramatic climax in “The Great
Auk.”
_Dénouement_: Judge Priest declares that the Court is advised as
to O’Day’s sanity; the youngsters applaud; the elders join in the
applause; O’Day is, according to the Judge, “the sanest man in this
entire jurisdiction.” Court is adjourned. The Judge lingers to make a
suggestion to the sheriff.
_Anti-Climax, and Close of the Narrative_: Peep brings to Judge
Priest a present of all-day suckers.
CHARACTERIZATION. Judge Priest, who appears in many of Mr. Cobb’s
stories, is one of numerous types the author knew when he was a Paducah
reporter. The student should study him as an example destined to
literary permanence. In the opinion of the present critic he is the
most representative figure in all the current literature about the
South. No Southerner can fail to recognize the gentleman.
In this particular story how is the Judge described by the author? How
does his mail help to characterize him? How does his behavior reveal
him? For what qualities do you like him at first? For what throughout?
(See especially pages 95, 117, 126.) For what, finally?
Study the description of O’Day. Study page 94 for the way Mr. Cobb
makes O’Day appeal to the reader’s sympathy. What in his past history
has contributory value to the present picture and present plot? What in
his environment? What do the townspeople think of him? What exceptions
are there? What is his attitude to others? Study his behavior in
connection with the reception of news about his fortune, his subsequent
acts, and his speech in the court-room. Why is his story of his early
life of particular worth here? Note all the reasons for which you
sympathize with him. Wherein, in brief, lies the human appeal of the
story?
How are the minor characters hit off as individuals? How are they
repressed so as not to usurp too much of the reader’s attention?
DETAILS. Study the easy way in which the locality is kept before the
reader. For example, the business about the water-melons is essentially
Southern.
From reading “The Great Auk” what would you judge to have been one of
Mr. Cobb’s chief interests? What from reading “Boys Will Be Boys”?
Point out examples of this author’s humor.
What value has the fact (page 87) that the Court of Appeals had
affirmed a decision of the Judge?
What effects arise from the statement that Peep wore a four dollar suit?