Short Fiction · Chapter
Shoes explained
Johnny Atwood, the U.S.
What happens
Johnny Atwood, the U.S. consul in Coralio, is in a state of lotus-eating despair after fleeing from Rosine Hemstetter. He and Billy Keogh mock a letter from Dalesburg inquiring about opening a shoe store in the tropics, where hardly anyone wears shoes. To their horror, the letter writer, Mr. Hemstetter, arrives in person with his daughter Rosine and a full stock of shoes, having acted on Johnny's sarcastic advice. Johnny realizes he still loves Rosine and must find a way to salvage the situation, leading him to send a cryptic telegram ordering cockleburrs.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
Johnny's sarcastic letter about the shoe market is taken at face value by Mr. Hemstetter, leading to a disastrous misunderstanding.
Humor and Irony
The irony of a shoe store being proposed in a town where almost no one wears shoes, and the subsequent arrival of the investor.
Love and Romance
Johnny's unresolved feelings for Rosine drive his actions, and her arrival rekindles his hope despite the predicament.
Characters to notice
- Johnny Atwood
The U.S. consul in Coralio, indulging in lotus-eating and brandy, still pining for Rosine Hemstetter.
- Billy Keogh
Johnny's friend and fellow consul, who helps open mail and later tries to organize a shoe-buying scheme.
- Rosine Hemstetter
The woman Johnny fled from; she arrives in Coralio with her father, still fond of Johnny.
- Mr. Hemstetter
Rosine's father, an impractical businessman who invested his savings in shoes based on Johnny's misleading letter.
Key passages
“John De Graffenreid Atwood ate of the lotus, root, stem, and flower. The tropics gobbled him up.”
Johnny Atwood succumbed completely to the indolent, escapist lifestyle of the tropics.
Opening metaphor for Johnny's lethargy and avoidance of his past.
“Shoe store! What'll they ask about next, I wonder? Overcoat factory, I reckon.”
Johnny mocks the absurdity of opening a shoe store in a place where shoes are rarely worn.
Highlights the central irony of the chapter.
“I want that girl worse than ever, Billy, and now when she's in reach I've lost her forever because I tried to be funny when the thermometer was at 102.”
Johnny regrets his joke letter, realizing it may cost him his chance with Rosine.
Shows Johnny's emotional turmoil and the stakes of the deception.