In the stories "The Social Triangle" and "A Retrieved Reformation", O. Henry uses the literary devices of symbolism, plot twists, and characterization. The time period in which O The best works created by Henry occurred in the late 1800s and early 1900s, where he amazed readers with his romantic and unorthodox style. A short story titled "A Retrieved Reformation" written by O. Henry, who sold it to George Tyler who later turned the play into a Broadway show. “Alias Jimmy Valentine,” as he came to be known, dazzled America, England, France and Spain for over a decade. In the stories "The Social Triangle" and "A Retrieved Reformation", O. Henry uses the literary devices of symbolism, plot twists, and characterization. “The Social Triangle,” one of O. Henry's great works, uses symbolism, twists and characterization. The triangle includes a poor working, lower class man named Ikey Snigglefritz who uses all of his weekly pay to arrange drinks for a middle class man named Billy McMahon. Ikey's wife and his three sisters become angry at his actions. Despite their animosity towards him, he willingly gave up his salary to spend it on someone he admires and the way he spent his salary is a symbol of success. “Ikey threw the week's pay in a crumbled wad on the counter.” With only a slight hesitation, Ikey made a friendly gesture toward an upper-class man who will likely never know how hard he worked to get that money. Both Ikey and Billy enjoyed shaking hands with someone of a higher social class than them. Van Duyskink enjoyed shaking hands with the impoverished Ikey Snigglefritz, which seems to be classified as a plot twist. "To resolve the unlikely triangle, Van Duyskink...impulsively leaves his car to take the hand of Ikey Snigglefritz. The plot seems to be distorted because no one expects Van Duyskink to be happy to shake the hand of a poor man for the fact that he is a millionaire. O. Henry developed Ikey and Billy through the story using characterization Henry describes Billy McMahon as “…the greatest man, the most wonderful man…flushed, triumphant and powerful. Henry continues to represent how important and wonderful this man is. Ikey is described by Henry when he says that Ikey is, ".
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