Short Fiction · Chapter
A Sure Method explained
An editor uses a $20 bill to kill poets who submit poor work, finding it more effective than a gun or club, with the coroner always ruling heart failure.
What happens
An editor uses a $20 bill to kill poets who submit poor work, finding it more effective than a gun or club, with the coroner always ruling heart failure.
Themes in this chapter
Humor and Irony
The darkly comic premise of killing poets with a $20 bill highlights the absurdity of editorial power and the value placed on poetry.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator describes the editor's actions and the fate of the poet.
Key passages
“The editor sat in his palatially furnished sanctum bending over a mass of manuscripts, resting his beetling brow upon his hand.”
The editor was in his luxurious office, hunched over a pile of manuscripts with a furrowed brow.
Sets the scene of the editor's workspace and his burden.
“He then drew from his pocket a $20 bill and held it toward the poet. A heavy thud was heard, and at the tinkle of an electric bell the editor’s minions entered and carried the lifeless form of the poet away.”
He pulled out a $20 bill and offered it to the poet, who immediately fell dead; the editor's assistants then removed the body.
Illustrates the editor's lethal method of rejecting poetry.
“It works better than a gun or a club and the coroner always brings in a verdict of heart failure.”
This method is more effective than violence, and the coroner always rules the death natural.
Reveals the editor's cynical justification for his actions.