subject: Plot and Structure in the Short Story [print this page] There is deliberate ambiguity or open-enddness in stead of unambiguous resolutions or closed-endedness plot feature in many modern stories. The surprise endings of the stories of French author Guy de Maupassant influenced many commercial writers as well as some literary ones. His 1884 story The Necklace is remarkable. American author O. Henry became famous for his surprise endings and paradoxical style. His story A Gift of the Magi (1905) is remarkable for this. Later on, American writer William Faulkner used this kind of surprise ending in A Rose for Emily (1931).
