The story under analysis is written by William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer.

His life was rather difficult. He worked as reporter and columnist, he was imprisoned for embezzling money, he had to support his daughter Margaret. By the way, being imprisoned, he began his literary carrer.

O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, clever surprise endings and humour. He combined humour and pathos with an ironic twist of plot. Although some critics were not so enthusiastic about his formulatic way of writing, the public loved his entertaining tales and uncomplicated characters.

A large group of O. Henry’s short stories are devoted to the description of the capitalist city. Big city is cruel and indifferent to the fate of the little man. O. Henry paints an impressive picture of insecurity, poverty of ordinary people, their dashed hopes, shattered illusions. Typists, shop assistants, actors, clerks, the heroes of these stories, the author portrayed with sympathy and compassion - they are the victim of a capitalist city, cruel and callous, indifferent to their fate. Not all the stories about Henry `are harmless in nature.

Speaking about realistic and romantic stories of Henry we should mention also that the writer created such sentimental novels and short stories, written in the spirit of "gentle realism". There were many short stories with a traditional "happy ending" pure entertainment. In the American literature of the late XIX - early XX century O. Henry was intermediate between the critical and realistic direction, the school of "gentle realism" and the romantic trend, which has continued to exist. Artistic method of O. Henry is a combination of realistic, sentimental items, often difficult interwoven in his novels. The writer not only continued, but also made a lot of new development in the genre of the American short story. The undeniable merit of O. Henry is a realistic description of the city life and life little man. Very diverse genre of variety in his short story: short story, satire, short story, grotesque, romantic adventure novel, short story, parody, etc. majority of characteristic features of the artistic style of the writer are humor and satire, irony, comic grotesque. Stories are dynamic, written spoken language using jargon parody receptions, unexpected comparisons.

O. Henry's wrote such classic short stories as The Ransom of Red Chief, “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Furnished Room”. The story "A Skylight Room" was published in 1905.