Hearts and Hands by O. Henry is a story of two gentlemen whose hands and hearts were bound together. O. Henry or William Sydney Porter is famous for having a surprising twist at the end of his stories. How can this simple, plain story have an unexpected ending?
Mr. Easton and the marshal are on a train and are talking to a young lady named Ms. Fairchild. Their hands are bound together by handcuffs, as police do that to prevent the criminal from running away. Their hearts are bound together, figuratively, because of the marshal’s generosity to Mr. Easton. He notices that the lady is friends with the criminal and Mr. Easton doesn’t want her to know that he broke the law. To prevent that, he “switches roles” with him to prevent embarrassment.
With an unexpected ending, there are examples of foreshadowing displayed in the story. The first one is when Mr. Easton first displays uneasiness when he first saw Ms. Fairchild. Normally, people wouldn’t feel embarrassed when they see a friend, except that we know that he was hiding something after reading the story. Another example is when the marshal explained the situation to the lady very calmly. This is when he first introduces his little plan to the criminal. Usually, if you’re the criminal, you wouldn’t have a normal, easygoing, conversation with someone else whilst in the presence of the police. This foreshadows that maybe he isn’t who he says he is.
There are other instances in the story where it’s hard to understand without reading the full thing. Ms. Fairchild mentioned once, “…But people always misunderstand things and remain stupid–” (Henry) At first, you might not think much of this sentence, but after reading the ending, this becomes an example of irony. She is talking about people who don’t understand and she is technically talking about herself as she never noticed the truth that her friend was the criminal.
Many stories are more difficult to understand than others because of surprise endings, not just ones by O. Henry. Reading deeper into the story or rereading it reveals hidden meanings that you may have passed before in the story.