O. Henry is describing a building in a poor part of town
where the rents are low. No letter would go into the letter box (or mailbox) either
because Jim and Della never received any letters or because the letter box was so old
and dilapidated that the little door could not be opened. Perhaps the key to the box had
been lost long ago and the owner had never bothered to replace it. The same applies to
the electric button, which was probably right below the letter box. In a building like
that the little amenities such as electric buttons get out of order and are never fixed.
There is no manager or maintenance man on the premises. If anybody comes to visit the
Youngs, the visitor will have to find their apartment and knock on the door. Little
details like this show O. Henry's sensitive observation of details and his skill at
making deductions from them. Another example of his talent in this regard is his
description of "a pier glass in an $8 flat."
Perhaps you have seen a pier glass in an $8 flat.
A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence
of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his
looks.
The fancy calling card
bearing the engraved name Mr. James Dillingham Young is intended to show that the Youngs
have come down in the world. Jim had been earning $30 a week but was earning
substantially less now, possibly because of a recession or depression. The $8 rent would
mean $8 per week.
O. Henry had had a hard life and had
undoubtedly lived in such flats himself. He was living in a cheap hotel in Manhattan at
the time of his death in 1910. His writing is characterized by compassion for the
underprivileged, who were the people he knew best.
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