Selfishness to Selflessness with a Dash of Love Virgil once said “Love conquers all.” In One Thousand Dollars, O. Henry demonstrates this by entwining love with another theme of the story: selfishness. Bobby Gillian, the main character, is a selfish, rich man and is in love with Miss Hayden, his late uncle’s ward. Although both of these themes are prominent throughout the short story, in the end, Gillian’s love for Miss Hayden trumps his selfish nature. The story begins with Bobby Gillian receiving one thousand dollars upon his uncle’s death. He may use this money for whatever he wishes, but must document his use in the form of a receipt. Throughout most of the story, he asks various people what they would do with one thousand dollars. He returns to the offices of …show more content…
At the beginning, when he first receives the one thousand dollars, Gillian goes to see Old Bryson to tell him about to the money he received. Old Bryson tells him to spend it on material things, and does not suggest using the money for a more noble purpose. They also converse about how Gillian’s uncle was very rich and should have left more money to Gillian (277-288). This shows that Old Bryson is a character that seems to fuel Gillian’s selfish nature as well as his ego. If he was a true friend of Gillian’s he probably would not have said this. The biggest show of Gillian’s selfishness comes at the end of the story when he returns to the offices of Tolman & Sharp. When the readers read what the second half of the will says, they can assume that this was put in place by Gillian’s uncle to try and teach Gillian a lesson. The only reason his uncle includes that in the will is because Gillian is known to use money for frivolous purposes, like betting on races and buying items for himself (281). In the end, the rest of the world still thinks Gillian is the same selfish, egoistic, rich man that wastes his money, but the readers know the