THE WILLOW WALK
Plot. In constructing his plot, the author devised a plan whereby a robber might escape with stolen money. Having invented it, he tested each part to make it seem detective proof; and in following up this process he created a novel variety of the detective story genre. Similar stories have effected a resolution of the complication by a pull at some loose end left hanging through inadvertence of the criminal, and have so conserved justice. Mr. Lewis, avoiding this usual device, has requisitioned the peculiar advantages of dual personality to bring about the downfall of his criminal. (Compare with this motif, the one found in Frederick Stuart Greene’s “Galway Intrudes,” a story which has much in common with “The Willow Walk.”)
A thief, therefore, who plans his get-away by first inventing and then pretending to be his own “brother,” ultimately becomes the brother. The transformation is made plausible through the histrionic gifts attributed to the robber whereby he is, rather than merely acts, the represented character.
To the end that ultimate confession will occur, the brother must be religious; to the end that punishment is efficacious, the confession must be received with incredulity. These are necessary, if unconscious, preliminaries to this representative of the series which begins with Poe’s “William Wilson,” and which includes “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
Presentation. The author first sets forth details that lead to the beginning of the action, the most important of which convey that Jasper Holt is acquiring a new hand-writing, that he is a respectable paying teller, that he is a good actor.
Action Antecedent to the Present: Read the story, and find under its superstructure the groundwork of Jasper’s plan. How much preparation has been necessary? How long has it required, probably, to accomplish it? Has the author begun at the best point possible in the story action?
Incidents of the Complication Leading Immediately to the Dramatic Climax:
1. Jasper Holt prepares the hiding place.
Taking his car from the garage, Holt starts toward Rosebank, but turns aside to buy candy, which he has packed in boxes that imitate books. He purchases two novels. To one who recognizes him, he pretends he is looking after bank property. He reaches Rosebank; he enters the house of the willow walk, removes the candy to the paper wrapper, and places the two imitation books, with the novels, on the bottom shelf of the book-case. (Incidentally, he makes use of the principle exploited by Poe in “The Purloined Letter.”)
2. Jasper establishes his identity as “John Holt.”