"Make-Believe Man" by Richard Harding Davis centers around the themes of identity, deception, and societal expectations. The story follows the protagonist, a young man who, feeling constrained by his lower social class, decides to adopt a new identity to win the affection of a wealthy woman. Through a series of events, he successfully deceives those around him, including the woman he loves, by pretending to be someone of higher status.
As the story progresses, the protagonist's transformation becomes more complex, leading to various misunderstandings and complications. The romance between the protagonist and the woman serves as a central element, highlighting the tension between genuine affection and the deception underpinning it.
Ultimately, the story examines the consequences of pretending to be someone else and the societal norms that pressure individuals to conform to certain identities. Through its exploration of love, disguise, and social class, "Make-Believe Man" offers a critical look at the lengths people go to in order to achieve their desires and the impact of those actions on their lives and relationships. The story ultimately questions the fairness and integrity of a society that values appearances and status over genuine character and love and success.
"Richard Harding Davis was an American journalist, fiction and drama writer who is best remembered for becoming the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish-American War, the Second Boer War, and WWI. His writing considerably helped Theodore Roosevelt's political career. He also played a significant effect in the evolution of American magazines. His impact extended to the world of fashion, and he is credited with popularizing the clean-shaven style among males at the start of the twentieth century. Davis was born April 18, 1864, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Rebecca Harding Davis, was a well-known writer in her day. His father, Lemuel Clarke Davis, was a journalist who edited the Philadelphia Public Ledger. Davis attended Episcopal Academy when he was a young man. After an unsatisfactory year at Swarthmore College, Davis relocated to Lehigh University, where his uncle, H. Wilson Harding, was a professor. Davis' first book, a collection of short stories titled "The Adventures of My Freshman (1884)" was published, while he was at Lehigh.
Many of the tales had previously appeared in the student magazine, the Lehigh Burr. Davis attended Johns Hopkins University after transferring in 1885."
