A Review - Witches' Loaves

Witches' Loaves

I'd like to introduce one of O.Henry's novels called "Witches' Loaves".The author is known as a short story writer and his novels always grip our hearts and teach us some lessons.

Witches' Loaves is a classic novel set in America and this story teaches us a lesson about how difficult it is to communicate without saying what people think. This story has two main characters, Miss Martha and a man. Miss Martha is a forty-year-old ,sympathetic, single women and she keeps a small bakery.The man, who is her regular customer, is middle-aged, neat and polite in spite of his worn and darned clothes. Mysteriously, he always buys a stale bread at her bakery. As the story progresses she begins to take an interest in him.One day she notices that there's a red and brown stain on his fingers. From his appearance, she judges him to be a struggling artist who can only eat stale bread without asking. Since she has a sympathetic heart and likes him, she begins to think she wants to help him somehow. In the end, she puts plenty of butter inside the loaves he usual buys. To make him surprised, she does this without telling him. In fact, he is an architectural draftsman and he uses stale bread to rub out the pencil lines like many draftsman do. The work that he has been drawing for months is for a prize competition. Therefore, giving him buttered bread out of sympathy ruins his work and even their relationship.

When I finished reading this story, I was fascinated by the vivid descriptions. In spite of being a short story, it has a funny and ironic side and even teaches us a lesson. As the story unfolded, I was caught up in each situation that happened one after another and I supported Miss Martha without noticing. What I like best is its surprising ending.

To sum up, I'd certainly recommend this writer's book to anyone who likes unexpected twists at the end. And also I'd recommend it to English learners who hesitates to read a book written in English. Because this author's novel is short and interesting, therefore, you don't feel overwhelmed when you read a book written in English.