Parody
O. Henry wrote a parody of the Elsie books called Elsie in New York . In this short story, Elsie (ostensibly a different Elsie, but the similarity to Finley's Elsie is overwhelmingly obvious) is portrayed as a naive young woman who has gone to New York to work for her father's former employer. Elsie is constantly presented with opportunities for honest work and relationships on her first day in the city, but always prevented by the minions of Society and Morality, such as the police or fictional activist groups like the 'Association for the Prevention of Jobs Being Put Up on Working Girls Looking for Jobs.'
When she finds her father's former boss, he is a lecherous rich playboy. There the story stops, allowing the reader to fill in the rest. The story pokes fun at Elsie Dinsmore's take on the world, where as long as one has faith, and follows the lead of those in moral authority, one will be rewarded.
Read more about this topic: Elsie Dinsmore
Famous quotes containing the word parody:
“Why does almost everything seem to me like its own parody? Why must I think that almost all, no, all the methods and conventions of art today are good for parody only?”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“The parody is the last refuge of the frustrated writer. Parodies are what you write when you are associate editor of the Harvard Lampoon. The greater the work of literature, the easier the parody. The step up from writing parodies is writing on the wall above the urinal.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)