In his short story “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen,” O. Henry acknowledges the benefits of traditions and the courage necessary to carry them out. In a solely forward-thinking society, traditions are easily dismissed as “things of the past” that hinder modern movement. But this misleading modern idea can distract from traditions’ benefits: their stability, definition, order, and comfort.
Henry sets forth Thanksgiving as “one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits.” He calls it a “purely American” day.
