"Bolivar can't stand two" - an immortal quote from the short story by O. Henry

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The stories of O. Henry are known to everyone who loves to read. Everyone else is familiar with them thanks to the wonderful film adaptations of the works of a remarkable American writer. The phrases “sand is a bad substitute for oats”, “we will have time to reach the Canadian border”, “Bolivar will not stand two” have become winged, and their appropriate use indicates a good sense of humor and well-read interlocutor.

The secret of the success of O. Henry's literary miniatures is in their vital truth, never outdated and eternal. In turn, it is impossible to achieve such reliability if the author does not have experience and he did not happen to experience difficulties. A carefree, well-fed and prosperous life does not enrich a person with the qualities necessary for a good writer.

O. Henry's real name is William Sidney Porter, he was born in North Carolina, in the small town of Greensboro. Orphaned early, the young man began to work, first in a pharmacy, then in a bank as a cashier. Here he suffered serious trouble, William was accused of embezzlement. Going on the run, the young man met different people, and, apparently, heard a lot of adventurousstories. Perhaps the part of the story "The Roads We Take", which tells about the robbery of the train, was conceived precisely then, and the phrase "Bolivar cannot stand two" turned out to be consonant with the mood of the clerk hiding from the law. However, the idea of a future work could also have arisen in a prison in Columbus (Ohio), where the future writer spent three years.

William Porter, thanks to his pharmacy experience, got a job in the prison infirmary. The prisoners were ill infrequently, and the Aesculapius had enough time to try writing stories. Here the pseudonym O. Henry was coined. Why exactly like this, history is silent about that.

America is a country of great opportunities. A story written by an inmate was published in 1899, liked by the editor of McClure's Magazine, and was called Whistler Dick's Christmas Present.

Total O. Henry wrote more than 270 short stories. Among them is "Roads …" with the famous phrase "Bolivar can not stand two", the meaning of which is the ruthlessness of the "world of profit". One person does not kill another because he feels hatred for him, it's just that the business is too tight for two. And it doesn't matter if he shoots from a Colt, or kills a competitor in a more civilized - economic way. Nothing personal, just Bolivar's horse can't stand two riders, that's all.

The characters in O. Henry's stories are varied. Among them are petty clerks, and aces-sharks of Wall Street, and fellow writers, and street gangsters, and simplehard workers, and politicians, and actors, and cowboys, and laundresses … Yes, there is just no one in these short stories. The writer himself sometimes lamented that he would be remembered by everyone as the author of small literary forms, and kept promising that he would create a great novel, or at least a story.

In fact, taken together, these short stories create a voluminous picture of American life in the early 20th century, in all its smallest details and diversity, which could hardly be achieved even in the most voluminous epic work. And this canvas does not seem to be scenes from an old and alien life, much in them is very similar to the events of our days. Maybe that's why even today you can often hear the phrase "Bolivar can't stand two" when it comes to the cynical elimination of a competitor…