ALMOST everybody likes telling stories. It is said that every literate young person, at some time or other in his or life life, tries to write a story. A story may be autobiographical or the idea may be provided to the writer by an event.

A very common feature of the stories of all striving (or for that matter some mature) writers, is that the writer likes to make the hero or the heroine of his story die. The climax of the story generally consists of the death of the hero. This feature or trait is particularly visible in the stories of the beginners.

It is surprising why the writer makes the leading character die. In K.A. Abbas's story "The Sparrows'' (it was his first story) the hero dies in an attempt to save a pair of sparrows. Similarly, Old Behnnan, the hero of 0. Henry's story "The Last Leaf' dies of pneumonia caught in an attempt to save the life of a young girl, Johnsy, Numerous other examples can be given where the writer "kills" the hero or the heroine of the story on rather ridiculous grounds.

Why do the writers "kill" their heroes? Perhaps they want to give their stories a tragic end. When a writer finds that his story lacks enough tragic element, he moulds it in such a way as to culminate in the death of the hero.

If literature is the mirror of life, a short story is by no means an exception. It is also supposed to portray some facet of everyday life. However, in real life a man does not die if his wife deserts aim.
Nor does a young, attractive girl end up her life on sick bed when her lover turns unfaithful.
The love of life is great. Notwithstanding the claims of psychologists and philosophers that the modern man is fed up with life and harbors a death-wish, the average man wants to live.

Every day we see many people who seem to be leading a wretched life: The leper, with puss and blood oozing out of his wounds; the one-legged, emaciated and miserable beggar; the aged clerk, with his back bent with the burden of responsibilities and with wrinkles deepened by nerve-racking worries of existence. By all apparent counts they are miserable and wretched people—living corpses, so to say. But just approach anyone of them and suggest that he take his life!

Nobody wants to die. Although you may hear many people complain that they are fed up with life, in the heart of their hearts they want to live on. Pope, in his poem "An Essay on Man'', says that a man is always happy with the state he is in, and nobody wants to trade places with his neighbor. He says that sometimes even a beggar can he seen dancing with joy.

Then what makes a writer kill his hero? A writer generally identifies himself with the hero of the story. It is an agreed fact that difficulties are part and parcel of life. Nobody can escape his quota of ill-luck or misfortunes. Everyone is subject to the stresses and strains of the busy modern, life. In such circumstances, man may sometimes feel himself at his wit's end to face the odds of life. In irritation and desperation, the man may wish momentarily for death.

Now when the idea of committing suicide enters his mind, his love of life prevents him from acting on it. To give this emotion an outlet, the man conjures up an imaginary character that dies in his place. And if the sufferer happens to be a writer, he writes a story which culminates in the death of the hero. Therefore, what the writer dare not do himself, he makes his hero do.