By: O. Henry

The third ingredient

The third ingredient is

another amazing story

of the master of

surprising endings O.

Henry. A relate full of

romance, humor and

real troubles of ordinary

people that will make

you feel identified with.

The third ingredient tells the story of a young miniature-painter (cecilia), whose lack of job impeles her to commit suicide. But she’s saved for a man that she decide to remove of her life, although she keeps the hope of meeting him again.

The second main character is a shop girl (Hetty) with whom Cecilia establishs a friendship for needing, (to share the dinner of beef stew with potatoes) and to whom she tells her own story.

Both girls regret not to have enough money to buy an onion, the third essencial ingredient for the stew, but at the end of the story they find one, whose propietor turns out to the expected love of Cecilia.

It is a curious love- story with the stamp of O’Henry’s style.

In short

SettingPlace

The story is developed in an apartment house called “the Vallambrosa”

Time The story take place during a day.

Weather The climate is warm, but it is mentioned a experience in a rainy

day.

Social conditionsCharacters are normal people, employees which salary is just enough to eat and pay a small apartment.

Literary analysis

Title

The title represents exactly the whole story, through a metaphoric comparison between an onion and the love expected, as the third ingredient of a stew (onion) and the third ingredient of Cecilia’s life (boyfriend).

Characters

A shop-girl (Hetty) , a painter (Cecilia) a rich man friend of Cecilia.

PlotIn this tale, it is the moment when author let us know or infere the real identity of the man with the onion, because it impacts you and make you reflects about how unexpected and ironic could destiny become.

Literary analysis

Some opinions are hidden behind curtains of thin humor. Here there are

some exemples:

Political opinion“You shall not learn from me the salary that was paid her as a beginner. There is a sentiment growing about such things and I want no millionaire store-proprietors climbing the fire scape of my tenement house to throw dynamite bombs into my skylight”.

“There is certains things in life that are intended to fit together, one is Irish and trouble”.

Author’s personal points of views

Use of Metaphores“Figuratively , some people are Bosoms, some are hands, some are Heads, some are Muscles, some are Feet, some are Backs for burdens, but Hetty was a shoulder. All her life people laid their heads upon it and left there their problems”.

Belief in destiny’s power“ There’s certain things that are naturally intended to fit and belong together, one is ham and eggs, one is Irish and trouble and othre one is beef and potatoes with onions”.

and at the end of the story:

“Go on in, (said Hetty to the rich man) Potato is in there, waiting. Go on in, onion”.

Author’s personal points of views

Sense of humor

Author’s personal points of views

-“That nasty river?” “It

smells to me like soap

factories and wet setter dogs… Oh,

you mean the stew”.

-“It smells good”!

-“It ought to have more water in it”,“ the stew, I mean”.

“I came near

drowning in that awful

river”,

To sum up, it is important to say that “The third ingredient” is an exemple of O. Henry’s narration style. In which you will find ironic circumstances of normal life’s experiences, humor, romance and of course a surprising ending. It is one of those tales that understand and show the essence of human feelings and transmit us the ideas, anguish, hopes, dreams and happiness of poor people in the New York of the XIX century, as a representation of the whole human race’s situation.

In this story as in some many others stories of O. Henry, the feeling of hope and love is always present to show us that it doesn’t matter how difficult could be the real life, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Conclusion