The Furnished Room
by O. Henry

The Furnished Room: Dialect 1 key example

Key Examples in The Furnished Room

Dialect
Explanation and Analysis—Mrs. McCool:

As a work of Realist fiction, “The Furnished Room” captures the harsh realities of life on New York City’s Lower West Side at the turn of the 20th century. One of the ways that O. Henry makes the story feel true-to-life is through his rendering of Mrs. McCool’s Irish dialect, as seen in the following passage:

’Tis right ye are, ma’am; ’tis by renting rooms we kape alive. Ye have the rale sense for business, ma’am. There be many people will rayjict the rentin’ of a room if they be tould a suicide has been after dyin’ in the bed of it.”

“As you say, we has our living to be making,” remarked Mrs. Purdy.