O. Henry is the pen name of William Sydney Porter, an American writer who lived from 1862 to 1910. He was born in North Carolina and later moved to Texas. As a young man, Porter worked in a drug store, as a bank clerk, and as a newspaper reporter. In 1897, he was convicted of embezzling money and he was sent to prison. While there, he started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter. After three years, he was released. He moved to New York and took the pen name O. Henry.
O. Henry wrote more than 600 short stories, many of which are about ordinary people living in New York. He is known for his witty writing style, but he is most famous for his twist endings. Today, a surprise ending in a book or story is called an "O. Henry ending."
-Excerpted from "Yesterday's Influence" by Professor Pattie Wiggins
What can we infer about the possible origin of William Sydney Porter's pen name?
William Sydney Porter took the pen name of O. Henry so that he could write stories with twist endings.
William Sydney Porter took the pen name of O. Henry to distance himself from his past as a convict.
O. Henry used life in prison as inspiration to make an honest living from stories.
The strange twist of robbing banks as a bank teller in O. Henry's real life led him to write stories about bank robberies.