Structure

The short story follows the first person narrator as he recalls bullying a high school classmate named Harry Hands and their reencounter, about 40 years later. Consequently, the story has two different timelines, both of which represent flashback stories (episodes the narrator recall…

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Beginning

The short story begins directly, by introducing readers to one of the main characters of the story: “I often remember his name, Harry Hands, a most unfortunate name for a fourteen-year-old boy in the ninth grade in junior high in 1934.” (ll. 1-3)

The beginning of the story hooks and misleads readers, because the use of the word ‘unfortunate’ is meant to inspire sympathy …

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Middle

The story develops the rising action by first explaining why the narrator and his classmates bullied Harry: “Harry Hands was smarter than anyone else in the whole school. This was the first crime.” (ll. 56-57)

Through another backstory, we find out that Harry was also good at sports and that he was arrogant about how fast he could do his homework.

After that, the chronology suddenly changes, jumping to 40 years later: “About forty years it got so I only thought about Harry Hands once every two years instead of once every two months.” (ll. 91-92)

An element of mystery is introduced when the narrator reveals a “stranger” (l. 95) approached him on the street. The strange…

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Ending

In the falling action, Harry thanks the narrator for bullying him together with other classmates, introducing the plot twist: “ ‘Thanks to you, to all of you, for what you did,’ he said.” (l. 197). While the beginning of the story prepared readers to pity Harry for being bullied, the end …