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Sihyun Kim
Dr. John Silva
English 102.0841
16 April 2006
The Deceptive Grandeur of the Entertainment World
In “The Furnished Room” by O. Henry, the journey of a nameless protagonist in his desperate search for a lost love comes tragically to an end within the walls of a room on the Lower West Side. Before his untimely departure from the world, O. Henry’s narrator reveals that scores of men and women have inhabited the same room before. Nevertheless, the only significant information that the readers can gather are the despair and torment plaguing the hearts of the young striving actors and actresses who failed to achieve theatrical recognition. In many ways, “The Furnished Room” is far from being a mere love story. Instead, the story serves as a bleak portrayal of the unheard stories of broken hopes and dreams that are in abundant quantities in the world of entertainment.
“The Furnished Room” begins with the protagonist who, after twelve unsuccessful attempts at finding a boarding house in which he can settle, finds himself being led by Mrs. Purdy, the owner of a run down building in the red brick district of the Lower West Side, into a furnished room that has just recently been left vacant. After the protagonist pays Mrs. Purdy the rent and enters the room, O. Henry’s narrator observes that “[t]he furnished room received its latest guest with a first glow of pseudo-hospitality, a hectic, haggard, perfunctory welcome like the specious smile of a demirep” (25). The furnished room is portrayed welcoming a man who is merely the latest in a long series of young men and women who have been lured into the theatre district of Manhattan. As a result, the narrator gives the clear warning that the room’s hospitality cannot be so easily trusted. A closer look into the room reveals that “[u]pon the gay-papered wall were those pictures that pursue the homeless one from house to house—The Huguenot Lovers, The First Quarrel, The Wedding Breakfast, Psyche at the Fountain” (25). These movie posters are one of the first things to which the guests of the room are exposed when they move into the red brick district. In effect, the furnished room creates the false impression that in the entertainment world, fame and fortune are easily within grasp. This deceptive distortion of reality is what ultimately attracts scores of young men and women into New York City’s theatre district in the first place.
Therefore, the unsightly traces of these individuals’ demoralization that are found throughout the furnished room should bring no surprise. In fact, one of the very first things that the protagonist observes as he settles down in the room are “the tiny fingerprints on the wall [that] spoke of little prisoners trying to feel their way to sun and air” (26). To most tenants, the unremarkably commonplace walls of the furnished rooms are contemptuous reminders of their inability to advance their lives beyond normality. While some are able to win recognition on the stage, most fail to realize even the simplest aspects of their dreams. As a result, some of these embittered individuals have taken their anger out against the room: “Across the pier-glass had been scrawled with a diamond in staggering letters the name “Marie” (26). Unable to cope with the harsh realities of theatre, Marie—a representative of the many small-time actors and actresses in the red brick district—made a last ditch effort to leave behind some sort of legacy in the world. The fact that the readers cannot know anything about Marie but her name and anguish offers a grim reminder of reality: not everybody is subject to a fair shot at theatrical eminence. On the contrary, most either continue their endless pursuit of fame or surrender themselves to oblivion.
Indeed, according to O. Henry’s narrator, the world of entertainment is a dehumanizing agency that viciously subjugates those who fail to achieve stardom. When the protagonist asks Mrs. Purdy if she knows Eloise Vashner—yet another representative of the aspiring actors and actresses—he notes that she has a “dark mole near her left eyebrow” (25). To the protagonist, the mole is a mark of Eloise’s individuality, and, hence, is the symbol of his attraction to her. Nevertheless, when Mrs. Purdy, in the company of her friend Mrs. McCool, refers to Eloise at the end of the story, she states, “[Eloise]’d a-been called handsome, as you say … but for that mole she had a-growin’ by her left eyebrow” (28). To Mrs. Purdy, the mole is the only flaw in beauty that Eloise possessed. Unlike the protagonist, Mrs. Purdy is not attracted to Eloise’s distinct attribute. In fact, she is actually repelled by it. Apparently, individuality is no safeguard against inconsequentiality in the entertainment world. Nothing, it seems, can offer solace to these young actors and actresses.
“The Furnished Room” is ultimately a grim testimony concerning the seeming luster of the entertainment industry. The untimely deaths of Eloise and the protagonist deliver the firm message that underneath the stories of fame and glamour in the media are the disheartening biographies of those who have failed to “make it big”. “The Furnished Room”, therefore, could be viewed as a sympathetic reminder that the readers should praise not only those who have won their places in the spotlight, but also those who are struggling through adversity in their ever evasive dream of rising above obscurity.
Work Cited
O. Henry. The Gift of the Magi and Other Short Stories. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum and Shane
Weller. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1992.