How it Happened
Encyclopedia
"How it happened" is a 1506-word short story
by the author Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
first published during the First World War
at the end of what may be considered to be the Edwardian era in 1918 but Conan Doyle began writing in the Victorian era
. This story is considered to be about wilful masculine pride.
The story is written in the first person
; the narrator is a man who is met at the beginning of the story by his chauffeur, Perkins, at half-past eleven at the "little country station" while coming back from London. He wanted to try his new car, which had been delivered that day. He was warned that the gears were not of the same type he is used to but he insisted on driving. They "were just over the brow of" Claystall Hill, "one of the worst hills of England", when he lost all control on the speed of the car. He tried to bring the car back to his house "wheels whirring like a high wind" and did not jump even when advised to do so by Perkins. In the end, he managed to reach home but crashed into the park gate. The story ends with Perkins having injured his leg and the narrator meeting a dead friend, Stanley, implying that he himself died in the accident.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by the author Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
first published during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
at the end of what may be considered to be the Edwardian era in 1918 but Conan Doyle began writing in the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
. This story is considered to be about wilful masculine pride.
The story is written in the first person
First-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
; the narrator is a man who is met at the beginning of the story by his chauffeur, Perkins, at half-past eleven at the "little country station" while coming back from London. He wanted to try his new car, which had been delivered that day. He was warned that the gears were not of the same type he is used to but he insisted on driving. They "were just over the brow of" Claystall Hill, "one of the worst hills of England", when he lost all control on the speed of the car. He tried to bring the car back to his house "wheels whirring like a high wind" and did not jump even when advised to do so by Perkins. In the end, he managed to reach home but crashed into the park gate. The story ends with Perkins having injured his leg and the narrator meeting a dead friend, Stanley, implying that he himself died in the accident.