The Social Triangle Flashcards
by O. Henry — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Social Triangle
What does Ikey Snigglefritz do for a living?
He is a tailor's apprentice who toils in a steamy sweatshop, earning twelve dollars a week.
What does Ikey do with his entire week's wages at the Cafe Maginnis?
He spends all twelve dollars buying champagne for Billy McMahan and his entourage to celebrate an election victory.
How does Ikey's family react when he comes home without his wages?
His mother and three sisters shriek and berate him, but Ikey remains in an ecstatic trance of joy.
What pretext does Billy McMahan use to approach Cortlandt Van Duyckink?
He tells Van Duyckink he has heard about his plans to start reforms among the poor and offers his help in the district.
What does Billy order after shaking Van Duyckink's hand?
He tries to order wine for everyone in the dining room, and when told it is against the house rules, he plans to provide free drinks at his cafe until 2 A.M.
Where does Van Duyckink go in the final section of the story?
He drives his pale-gray automobile through the Lower East Side with Miss Constance Schuyler to inspect buildings he plans to replace with better housing and soup kitchens.
How does the story come full circle in the final scene?
Van Duyckink impulsively shakes the hand of Ikey Snigglefritz on Delancey Street, the same person who started the chain by shaking Billy McMahan's hand.
What physical details does O. Henry use to characterize Ikey Snigglefritz?
He is pallid, stooping, insignificant, narrow-chested, and unsavory, wearing a frazzled tie with a chalcedony pin and puffing a cheap cigarette.
What kind of power does Billy McMahan hold in his district?
He is a Tammany Hall-style district leader who controls votes and patronage, described as a dictator in politics and a mogul feared, loved, and obeyed.
What distinguishes Cortlandt Van Duyckink from the other two men?
He is a tall, slender aristocrat worth eighty million dollars with melancholy eyes, a Van Dyke beard, and white thin hands, dining modestly on filet mignon and dry toast.
Who is Miss Constance Schuyler and what role does she play?
She is Van Duyckink's companion with "dim, ascetic beauty" who accompanies him to the Lower East Side and praises his charitable intentions.
What is the significance of Mrs. William Darragh McMahan's visiting cards?
Despite their small size, there are elite houses where the cards cannot gain entry, symbolizing the social barrier Billy cannot breach through political power alone.
What universal human desire does the story reveal across all three social classes?
Each man yearns for acceptance from the class above him, showing that the longing for social validation is universal regardless of wealth or status.
How does the story portray the relationship between money and happiness?
Each character sacrifices something of value (Ikey his wages, Billy his dignity, Van Duyckink his time) for a moment of connection, suggesting money alone cannot fulfill social aspirations.
What does the circular structure of the story suggest about the American class system?
It suggests that social climbing is an endless, self-perpetuating cycle where no one is truly satisfied with their position, and each class envies the one above it.
How does O. Henry treat the idea of individual aspiration in the story?
He treats it with gentle irony, showing that each man's grand moment of connection is ultimately fleeting and one-sided, valued far more by the seeker than the sought.
What literary device is created by the three parallel handshake scenes?
O. Henry uses structural parallelism, repeating the same pattern of approach, handshake, and ecstatic reaction three times to build toward the circular surprise ending.
How does O. Henry use the refrain "He had shaken the hand of ___" as a literary device?
The repeated sentence functions as an epiphany for each character, and its recurrence creates dramatic irony as readers recognize the pattern before the final twist.
What is the effect of the mythological allusion "Made mad now by the gods who were about to destroy him"?
It elevates Ikey's trivial act of buying champagne to mock-heroic proportions, comparing his reckless spending to a doomed warrior's final charge.
What narrative perspective does O. Henry use and why is it effective?
He uses an omniscient third-person narrator who moves between all three characters, which is essential for revealing that each man secretly envies someone above him.
What does "fetor" mean as used in "the steamy fetor of a tailor-shop"?
Fetor means a strong, foul smell or stench, emphasizing the oppressive working conditions of Ikey's sweatshop.
What does "objurgated" mean in "they shrieked and objurgated him"?
Objurgated means harshly scolded or rebuked, describing the fierce verbal abuse Ikey's family heaps on him for wasting his wages.
What does "accolade" mean in "His shoulder was tingling from the accolade bestowed by royalty"?
Accolade refers to a mark of honor or acknowledgment, here comparing Van Duyckink's handshake to a knighting ceremony.
What does the narrator mean by "he nurtures in his narrow bosom the bacillus of society"?
It means that even in Ikey's impoverished body, the germ of social ambition lives, comparing the desire for upward mobility to an infectious organism.
What is revealed by the line "his own solid success was as dust and ashes in his mouth"?
Despite Billy McMahan's wealth and political power, his achievements feel worthless because he cannot gain entry into high society.