A Service Of Love is a short story written by William Sydney Porter, more commonly known by his pen name O. Henry. The story features two aspiring artists as they struggle with money to pay for their lessons and each in turn decides to help out by selling their art. However, what they do not realize is that they both have gotten jobs to earn money and instead are lying to each other so that it does not put pressure on their talents. This way the story reflects the message that is given by the title “A Service Of Love” and disagrees with the statement “When one loves one’s Art no service seems too hard” which the author himself shows to be only a hoax and that reality is very different indeed. O. Henry also uses an ironic tone to emphasize the creativity of artists as the lies made up by the protagonists are brilliant to such an extent that they both believe it themselves. However, the underlying theme of the story becomes quite clear: love is an important thing and something for which people are ready to sacrifice their desires just to achieve it.
A Service Of Love | Summary
The author starts the story with the statement “When one loves one’s art no service seems too hard” and then goes on to explain how it is proved wrong at the same time. Joe Larrabee is a budding artist from the Middle West. At the age of six, his painting is appreciated and hung in the store window and by the time he is twenty he has gathered enough money to travel to New York City. Delia Caruthers comes from a village in the South and is a talented musician. Her relatives upon recognizing her ability for music also send her to New York City.
Both Joe and Delia meet at an atelier where people of different artistic skills meet to talk about music and painting. At the event, both of them fall in love with each other and get married quickly. They start living together in a flat and are content. The flat is small but they are happy because they have each other and their art. Now Joe has registered for painting classes with the great Magister and Delia is taking music lessons under Rosenstock. Both of them are joyous but only until the money lasts. As their lessons continue their goals become clearer. Joe will soon turn out paintings that old men buy for the sake of buying and Delia will master music and once she starts excelling at it she will throw tantrums just like professionals. According to the author though, the best part of their lives is the little conversations they have, those light breakfasts, and the way each supports the ambition of the other. Soon after, however, their art lessons stop. There is not enough money to pay for it so Delia declares that she will tutor children by giving them music lessons so that she can continue her lessons. For this purpose, Delia searches for pupils and after a few days, she happily declares that she has found one. Her name is Clementina, the daughter of General A. B. Pinkney, and she only wears white clothes. Delia is to teach her three times a week for which she gets 5 dollars for each lesson. Hearing this Joe says that it is good but as an artist, he feels bad about depending on Delia for money while he practices his painting. He says that he will also work but Delia stops him saying that she is always with her music so there is no need to worry as “When one loves one’s art no service seems too hard”. So for the next week, both of them work till late at night, and by the time Joe reaches home, it is always seven o’clock.
At the end of the week, Delia proudly keeps the fifteen-dollar bills on the table. She, however, explains that her job does get a little monotonous as Clementina always wears white clothes. However, General Pinkney is quite amusing so it is hard for Delia not to get attached to the family. Then Joe surprises Delia, places a few notes on the table, and proudly announces that he has sold his painting of the watercolor of the obelisk to a man from Peoria. Delia is delighted and both of them decide to have a sumptuous dinner that night. The next week Joe arrives early and keeps his eighteen dollars on the table and washes his hands which are stained with a dark color.
Delia arrives half an hour later and Joe is shocked to find her hand in bandages. Upon asking the reason for her injury Delia makes a long wind-up lie about Clementina wanting to eat a Welsh rabbit and spilling it on her hand. General Pinkney had quickly rushed to the basement to order the furnace man to get oils and bandages to cover the wound. Joe is deeply shocked to see her hurt and checks the wrapping under the bandage. He again asks Delia what it is to which she replies that it is something soft that has oil in it and noticing the money on the table asks if Joe has sold another painting. Joe replies positively and asks Delia about the time at which she got hurt. When she answers five o’clock Joe knows she is lying and asks her what she has been doing for the past two weeks. Delia tries to come up with an excuse but she fails and confesses that she has been ironing shirts in a shop as she can find no pupils. Then Joe reveals that the gentleman who bought his paintings was not from Peoria. However, Delia is not interested and asks how Joe knows she is lying about General Pinkney. Joe answers that he does not know until today when he sent up cotton and oils from the engine room for a girl who had burned her hand upstairs by a smoothing iron. Suddenly both of them realize that they have been lying to each other and that General Pinkney and Peoria are nothing but a figment of their imagination. Then Joe states that “When one loves one’s art no service seems too hard” but Delia stops him halfway and says that only “When one loves” is accurate.
A Service Of Love | Analysis
O. Henry wrote this story as a part of his second story collection “The Four Million” which is written in response to a newspaper editorial that states that there are only four hundred people in New York City that are worth the trouble of knowing. As a result, the collection contains twenty-five stories and most of the story takes place in New York City. The collection is published in 1906 which is a prominent time for the influence of naturalism in literature which has started in late nineteenth-century France. American naturalism is different in the sense that it focuses on the social classes and the idea of pre-destined fate. In this sense, O. Henry clearly shows the lifestyle of the common people living in New York City and he makes them the protagonists to prove that there are countless stories that others do not know about. So features of naturalism and realism are used by O.
Henry describes the experience of two people who are already destined for greatness due to their talents and go to New York City to polish them. Joe has the potential to be a great painter and Delia has the traits of a highly skilled musician. To pursue their dreams they go to New York City and meet at an art event. Then they happen to fall in love and end up getting married. Soon they move into a flat and are blissfully living their life. Now this is the time when O. Henry uses realism to show that life in New York City is not so simple. Both Joe and Delia are running out of money for their lessons and hence they come up with the idea of selling their art. However, none of them are able to do that, and to comfort each other they lie about their jobs. Only when they both encounter the same incident do they realize that they have been both working at the same place to support each other. They have only used art as their excuse to make up excuses for their jobs and so what Joe believes as “When one loves one’s art no service seems too hard” is actually what Delia rephrases as “When one loves” which is the entire theme of the story; that is true love is the only service that is sought after.
A Service Of Love | Themes
The most important themes of the story are love sacrifice, patience, and creativity. Joe and Delia truly love each other and are happy to live together. Yet when the issue of money arises both of them are ready to lie so that the other person does not suffer. This shows how deep their feelings are. Delia is ready to work in the laundry to iron clothes and Joe similarly is working in the same place as an engineer. However, both of them are quite creative people as already told by the narrator. So each of them comes up with the most creative lie they can think of, Delia makes up General A.B. Pinkney and Joe makes up a buyer from Peoria – a fictional country. This shows that both of them are quite skilled in their art and are not lacking in creativity and imagination; what they are truly lacking is money. To earn it they are also ready to sacrifice their time and patience and eventually, they do make some good money. However, only after the incident do they realize that they are not doing this for the sake of their art alone but more likely they are doing it for their significant other which accurately sums up the title of the story.
A Service Of Love | Character Sketch
The main character of the story is Joe Larrabee who is from the Middle West and Delia Caruthers who is from a village in the South. Both of them are artists and are quite imaginative as they both make perfect lies to hide their true jobs. Nonetheless, both of them are very hard-working and do their jobs without fail. They do use their art as an excuse to cover their real source of income but the only reason they do that is because they love each other and want to support each other’s ambitions.
A Service Of Love | Literary Devices
The main literary device used in the story is foreshadowing – a figure of speech that provides hints about the events that will happen in the future and plot twist – the technique where the plot is suddenly changed from what readers were expecting.
The story is narrated from the third person point of view where the author includes his opinions as if he were interacting with the readers, for example when he says “They cannot see her f–, but that is our story.” He also foreshadows Delia’s actual job when the word iron slips out of her mouth when she says
“The iron—I mean the rabbit comes off the fire about that time.”
At the same time, he also predicted Joe’s job when he mentioned that Joe started coming late and when he “washes what seems to be a great deal of dark paint from his hands.” Similarly, O. Henry used a plot twist to reveal that both of them were working in the same building instead of selling their art. So the story is a fine example of what love is like and what the people in love are willing to do, termed here as “service”, and to promote each other’s happiness and aim in life.