This text is the first person narrative with some elements of description.

   The plot is simple, the plot line that centres around the  cosmopolite and his trying to prove being a true one.The narrator calles the stranger “a cosmopolite,my cosmopolite”.He doesn’t use his name.The author wanted to emphasis the importance and  meaningfulness of this person to the narrator.

   The story can be divided into 3 parts: introduction, plot  development and climax.

   The introduction opens the scene and place where the events occur. The author describes the café and people there " the marble-topped tables, the range of leather-upholstered wall seats, the gay company, the ladies dressed in demi-state toilets, speaking in an exquisite visible chorus of taste, economy, opulence or art; the sedulous and largess-loving garcons, the music wisely catering to all with its raids upon the composers; the melange of talk and laughter…”.The description helps us to get profoundly imbued with the atmosphere of that evening and place.

   Then goes the plot development.The narrator meets Mr. E. Rushmore Coglan :“My cosmopolite was named E. Rushmore Coglan, and he will be heard from next summer at Coney Island.He took the great, round world in his hand, so to speak, familiarly, contemptuously, and it seemed no larger than the seed of a Maraschino cherry in a table d'hote grape fruit. He spoke disrespectfully of the equator, he skipped from continent to continent, he derided the zones, he mopped up the high seas with his napkin”.

   Mr.Rushmore thrills the narrator with his stories:” I listened to his worldwide discourse fearful lest I should discover in it the local note of the mere globe-trotter. But his opinions never fluttered or drooped; he was as impartial to cities, countries and continents as the winds or gravitation”.

   The last sentence is considered to be a climax of the story,when the narrator finds out that his beloved cosmopolitan is not the one he tries to pretend:” "Originally from Mattawamkeag, Maine, he said," continued McCarthy, "and he wouldn't stand for no knockin' the place."
        

   As for personages' characteristics, there are 2 characters in this story: the narrator and the cosmopolite.They are described both directly and indirectly.The author doesn’t give us so much information about the narrator.From the story we get to know about some his theories.one of them was that he didn’t believe true cosmopolites existed at all:” I was sure that I had found at last the one true cosmopolite since Adam”.

   O.Henry describes the cosmopolite as a haughty ,he can hardly control his  emotions:” The fist of E. Rushmore Coglan banged the table…”, “…he got hot on account of things said about the bum sidewalks and water supply of the place he come from by the other guy."

   The cosmopolite considers  patriotism "a relic of the stone age”, though his deeds show the opposite.

   He has indeed visited many places and pictures it very colorfully:”   I've seen men from Chicago  sit in a gondola in Venice on a moonlight night and brag about their drainage canal. I've seen a Southerner on being introduced to the King of England hand that monarch, without batting his eyes, the information that his grandaunt on his mother's side was related by marriage to the Perkinses, of Charleston “. From his speech we learn about his life experience.

   He considers himself a true citizen of the world, he has no passion to any particular place and claims that often :  “Let a man be a man and don't handicap him with the label of any section."

    The way the cosmopolite holds an imagine globe  “familiarly, contemptuously”, indicates his  attitude towards the geographical places on the Earth.

   “Is it fair to judge a man by his post-office address? “, he asks. And the cosmopolite managed to prove he was a really citizen of the whole world. The narrator says about him: “You would have addressed a letter to "E. Rushmore Coglan, Esq., the Earth, Solar System, the Universe," and have mailed it, feeling confident that it would be delivered to him.”

   The story is full of stylistic devices employed to create a realistic and the same time a bit ironic mood of the work.

   The phenomenon of onomatopoeia “Presto! Whiff! Zip!” produces the effect of the fast changing of events and places. “He dragged you through an Arkansas post-oak swamp, let you dry for a moment on the alkali plains of his Idaho ranch, then whirled you into the society of Viennese archdukes”-the metaphor leads us to different locations.

   The cosmopolite states  “that there is pride and rivalry between the cities of the earth, and that "the men that breed from them, they traffic up and down, but cling to their cities' hem as a child to the mother's gown.” This comparison is used to show the importance of native places for people, though he rejects this devotion.  

   “Funny Englishmen, spendthrift Yankees, cold-blooded Southerners, narrow- minded Westerners”- these epithets that are used to show that people are not always what we are used to think of them. The cosmopolite is against stereotypes.

   The comparison: “he was as impartial to cities, countries and continents as the winds or gravitation” is employed to characterize Mr. E. Rushmore Coglan, to characterize his unflagging viewing of the point.

   To describe the fight the author uses a comparison  “they fought between the tables like Titans”, to show how angry the cosmopolite was.

   E. Rushmore Coglan is effectively portrayed as a perfect cosmopolite throughout the story. Then at the end O. Henry says in effect: "Oh, he's not a cosmopolite."

   A quote : “O.Henry was a typical American – a cosmopolite who was always at home even in his country”.  In the Cosmopolite the author was doing what he was very good at. He was best at description and in this story he is describing the guy who has a story for every occassion. The cosmopolite described in the story is O.Henry himself.

                                                    THE PLOT OF THE STORY

The unnamed narrator was sitting at a small table in a café. A cosmopolite named E. Rushmore Coglan soon occupied one of the two empty chairs at his table. The narrator considered that there were no true cosmopolites. 

The narrator soon became convinced that E. Rushmore Coglan was a true cosmopolite.  While his speech he jumped from continent to continent.  He betrayed  no passion to any particular city. He treated all places alike.

The café had an orchestra. the orchestra  played a medley of tunes, concluding with "Dixie." The performance was appreciated highly by the visitors.One of them arose and expressed his enthusiasm. He then sat at the same table where the narrator and cosmopolite were sitting.

The narrator wondered where that man was from,according to his love to "Dixie", he believed him to be from the north.However, E. Rushmore Coglan interrupted him saying it didn't matter where you were from,you couldn't judge the person about his nationality. 

Later the cosmopolite  he saw someone that he knew, so he left the table. Not long after , there was a row in the café. The cosmopolite was fighting with another man. 

 The narrator learned that the so-called cosmopolite became angry when the other man made critical remarks about the city,where he was originally from.

                     THE SETTING OF THE STORY

  The events of the chosen story take place at midnight in a crowded cafe. The unnamed narrator sits alone at the table.The author discribes the place and people there in details:"the marble-topped tables, the range of leather-upholstered wall seats, the gay company, the ladies dressed in demi-state toilets, speaking in an exquisite visible chorus of taste...". The narrator of the story meets in that cafe a cosmopolite.Thay sit at one table and talk.

   I guess the author chose such a place for his story not by chance.The cafe creates the atmosphere of ease and relax.The place where you can meet a lot of different people ,the place where you can chat with somebody, having a drink.

                        O. Henry - 10 Facts You Probably Didn't Know

• O. Henry was a pseudonym (pen name) for one of the American short story writers, William Sydney Porter.
•  His was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in the year 1862.
•  William Porter only went  to school until he was 15 years old.
• He dropped out of school so he could work at his uncle’s drugstore.
•  While in his 20’s Porter became both a clerk and bank teller and moved to Texas.
• He did not write professionally until he was in his 30’s.
• O. Henry was accused of embezzling funds from the First National Bank of Austin, Texas in when he was 34. After being accused of this, Porter fled to Honduras.
• Learning his wife was dying, O. Henry returned to be with her, and then after she died he turned himself in.
• The sentence was 5 years (it was a small amount of funds embezzled), of which O. Henry served 3 at a jail in Ohio.
• O. Henry died in the year 1910, nearly 10 years after his release from prison. 

   William Sydney Porter  known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.

When people try to describe O. Henry’s writing style, they always use the term “smile with tears,” which implies his twisted way of thoughts and endings about every story. These stories usually end in a humorous but also cruel kind of way. It’s absolutely useful to elevate the artistic thought in writing a thoughtful story.

O. Henry's stories frequently have surprise endings. In his day, he was called the American answer to Guy de Maupassant. Both authors wrote plot twist endings, but O. Henry stories were much more playful. His stories are also known for witty narration.

Most of O. Henry's stories are set in his own time, the early 20th century. Many take place in New York City and deal for the most part with ordinary people: clerks, policemen, waitresses, etc.

Among his most famous stories are:

·         "The Gift of the Magi"

·         "The Ransom of Red Chief

·         "The Cop and the Anthem"

·         "A Retrieved Reformation

·         "The Duplicity of Hargraves". 

 My predictions were correct in a way. It really goes about the cosmopolite but he is described from another point of view.
  The guy tells a lot of stories from his world travelling experience in order to prove he is a true cosmopolite.He pictures the places he`s been to. And we are excited about his speech,but the last sentence changes our mood.This is that i like in O.Henry`s stories.The last moment shifts the tone of the whole story.

The Four Million

by O. Henry

                                                          "A COSMOPOLITE IN A CAFÉ"

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/131/the-four-million/2389/a-cosmopolite-in-a-cafe/ here is the link for an audio book

                                                       A COSMOPOLITE IN A CAFE

http://www.classicreader.com/book/1763/1/  here is the URL adress where you can read the story

According to the dictionary "cosmopolitanism" is the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community.So, "a cosmopolitan" is the person who suppors this idea.A cosmopolitan is someone who has travelled and lived in many countries,a person who is free of national prejudices.

Well,I can make a conclusion that the story goes about such a person.Maybe he or she will share the experience of travelling.maybe his/her story will look like a National Geographic programm. And i am waiting for an unpredictable and witty ending,which is typical for O.Henry.

Finally i managed to creat the blog. It wasn`t really difficult but needed some time and efforts.
For my project  I`ve chosen the story "A Cosmopolite in a Cafe" by O.Henry.I like O.Henry`s short stories for their witty endings.I enjoy  the author`s style of writing full of irony,which indicates O.Henry`s mental power.