# Shoes explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by O. Henry.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

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