# Journalistically Impossible explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by O. Henry.

## What happens

A new reporter, trained in a school of journalism, is asked by his editor why he failed to report a suicide as instructed. The reporter explains the impossibility of describing a throat cut 'from ear to ear' when the deceased had only one ear.

## Themes in this chapter

### Humor and Irony

The absurdity of a literal interpretation of a common phrase highlights the gap between journalistic training and real-world reporting.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

The new reporter, a graduate of a school of journalism, who finds the assignment logically impossible.

### The Captain

The editor who instructed the reporter to cover the suicide and questions the failure.

## Key lines

> How in the world was I to state that the man’s throat was cut from ear to ear when he had only one ear?

The reporter cannot describe the wound using the standard phrase because the victim's anatomy does not match the idiom.

_The punchline reveals the reporter's overly literal application of journalistic precision._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se/chapters/journalistically-impossible
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_41_se/chapters