Setting

The setting is extremely important in the story, as it is in all of the stories in The Four Million. O. Henry placed all of the stories in this collection in New York to show the diversity of people and situations in the growing city. Specifically, the setting of "Mammon and the Archer" is important because its plot hinges on some distinctly New York situations. First of all, Richard is interested in one of the daughters of the New York aristocracy who make up "the exclusive circles of society," as Richard puts it. Richard's only chance to ask Miss Lantry to marry him is in the few minutes' drive from Grand Central Station to Wallack's, a famous New York theatre. Says Richard, "Do you think she would listen to a declaration from me during that six or eight minutes under those circumstances?" However, one final characteristic of New...