Love of American Style

ContentChapter1 Introduction (4)Chapter 2 O. Henry ‘s article style--humor (4)2.1 O. Henry ‘s article style (4)Chapter3 Unique O-style ending method (5)3.1 Improbable Coincidence (The Gift of the Magi) (5)Chapter4 The Main Theme of O’Henry’s Works (6)Chapter 5 Conclusion (7)References (8)A Brief Review on O’Henry’s Works摘要：欧.亨利，原名威廉.西德尼.波特,20世纪美国著名小说家，美国短篇小说创始人。

被誉为世界上三大著名小说巨匠，与法国的莫泊桑，俄国的契诃夫齐名。

他少年时曾一心想当画家，婚后在妻子的鼓励下开始写作。

后再银行供职时出现账目问题而入狱，在服刑期间认真写作，并以“欧.亨利”为笔名发表了大量短篇小说。

他的作品情节细腻。

语言诙谐，结局往往出人意料。

出人意料但却符合逻辑的故事结尾以及不拘一格文风在作品中最具亮点给读者留下深刻印象。

而本论文的主要围绕他的著作，如《麦琪的礼物》，《最后一片叶子》，《警察与赞美诗》，分析其故事结尾与语言风格如何达到预想的效果和如何让作者的思想在作品中得到体现。

关键词：文风，欧.亨利式结尾,人性，社会现实Abstract:O. Henry, one of the three most famous short-story writers in the world, enjoys equal status with Chekhov and Maupassant. Exquisite plot, wry humor and twist ending dominate his works. Those surprising but logical endings and article’s style are the most brilliant in all of the highlights. This thesis mainly analyses O. Henry’s surprising but logical endings and style of his famous works such as The Gift of the Magi , The Last Leaf an and The Cop and the Anthem.These O. Henry-style endings impress readers ,and at the same time ,help him express his ideas completely and vividly.So this thesis mainly analyses how O.Henry set the plot to achieve the desired ending effect,and how the twist ending help idea-expression.Key Words: artistic styles, O. Henry-style ending, humanity; social realityChapter1 IntroductionO·Henry is commonly associated with the short story and the masterful ironic “O·Henry Twist”. A prolific writer, O·Henry wrote most often about New York City, where he spent his later years, He has been called “the American De Maupassant”.Years of hardships, vagrancy and prison supplied O·Henry with abundant material for writing. The tragedy in his own life —the bad luck that seemed to bind him —had taught him a chivalrous tenderness for the unlucky, a sympathetic understanding of the underdogs, and this compassion of his is evident in most of his short stories. O·Henry’s stories about New York City —the best of which are included in The Four Million—are his most famous. His works in.The Four Billionaire full of humor. His stories are amusing, flippant, flat and filled with irony and sentiment. Drawing directly on his experiences, he combined realism with a world of his own. Commonly recurring themes in O·Henry’s short stories are those of deception, mistaken identity, the effect of coincidence, the inexorable nature of fate, and the resolution of seemingly insurmountable difficulties separating two love it.Over recent hundreds of years, works of O·Henry’s have been published for several editions, and always attracting a great number of readers. O·Henry‟s writing is seen as straightforward and simple, written in plain language. His stories may rely on a sameness of plot, but the sharp, unexpected twist at the end is still his distinctive trademark today.(田2005:5)As readers, we like O·Henry’s stories very much because we can get much fun from them. Lively characters, humorous style, and the surprising ending which leave us endless thinking, are the main factors to attract and strike us.Chapter 2 O. Henry ‘s article style--humor2.1 O. Henry ‘s article styleO. Henry good at describing the United States in particular people living in New York. His novel, witty language, the result is often surprising; because of the many descriptions of the characters and full of life, as the "Encyclopedia of American life with humor." There are representative collection of short stories, "King and cabbage", "4,000,000" and "the fate of the road." Some of the famous, such as "love at the expense" and "Police and the Hymn," "rent furnished rooms" and "The Gift of the Magi" and "the last piece of rattan leaf" to make his reputation in the world.He is a writer with a unique style, humorous works, humorous wit, vivid descriptions, concise text. Vivid description of things from the profound understanding and extensive knowledge. He was good to observe things and the accumulation of knowledge. Good at capturing life Ironically, while the wealth to the philosophy of the dramatic scenes from the grasp of the subtle characteristics of the image using the language Painted, so that the people of flesh and blood, into the Xu-xu Health.2.2 HumorO. Henry once wrote: "the nature of my jokes is amiable, irony, and never make someone angry." This is his opinion of his humor, his satire, but again not ironic.he is on the basis of goodwill, and often contain the true meaning of life in accessible short stories . And another effect is that this kind of humor played down the tragic role, so readers are more likely to accept. In addition to the humorous irony, O. Henry is good at capturing the ironic and aboundin life philosophy of dramatic scene, with the characteristics of writing outline of cartoon characters, the plot of the chrono set at the same time, the ending with unexpected knot,All this make readers in dismay want to find the deep connotation of the story, make the reader have to exclamation story of fair and reasonable, idea of exquisite. In addition to unxepecting ending ,the sequence in the novel text became O. Henry another feature of the nove.In O’Henry’s short story “The Cop and the Anthem”, he ma kes use of the vocabulary mistake and hyperbole not only endowing figures with fresh image but also obtaining definite humorous effect. It’s a concrete display of the comedic writing style and at the same time it hints at the tragic fate of the protagonist.There is such a paragraph in the article:But as Soapy set foot inside the restaurant d o o r the head waiter’s eye fell upon his frayed trousers and decadent shoes. Strong and ready hands turned him a b o u t and conveyed him in silence and haste to the sidewalk and averted the ignoble fate of the menaced mallard.Soapy’s f irst “long for being arrested” plan i s to eat extravagantly in a luxurious restaurant—“a roast duck is almost enough!” But as he sets foot inside the restaurant door, the head waiter’s eye falls upon h i s“decadent shoes”. Decadent is always used to d e s c r i b e life style or consciousness concept. The author uses it to describe Soapy’s broken shoes and exaggerates the actuality of that broken shoe to a laughable extent. Then the author also uses the humorous remarks “turn round that r o a s t duck’s nearly being killed fate “to indicate Soapy’s hope “to eat gratis is vanished.”Chapter3 Unique O-style ending methodO. Henry's trademark is the surprising ending that each of his stories contains. He sets a story moving in one direction, and just when the reader is convinced of the general direction of the narrative, the story will be completely reversed.This kind of expected but reasonable ending which called O.Henry’s ending may be a litt le sorrowful but it still gives the readers some hope,which is so-called “O.Henry’s humor(smile with tears)”And if we look back to the total story, the ending seems logical and plausible. As a “plot-maker”, and designer of incident, he is an amazing geniu s. No one can do better than him to holds the reader in “suspense”More than that, the reader scarcely knows that he is suspended until the very close of the story. Just as turns on the lights and the whole tale is revealed in its entirety. He uses this device of dramatic and humorous effect in the short story collection The Four Million which including “The Gift of the Magi ”, and “The Cop and the Anthem”“the Service of Love”“The last Leaf.”He often stresses on something important but not the most importan t in his works.The most important part always seems to write incidentally,which been the most circumscriptive reader may if more it.When the stories end in a totally unexpected but reasonable way ,we can do nothing but cheer for O.Henry’s literary talent.3.1 Improbable Coincidence (The Gift of the Magi)The novel“The Gift of the Magi” is about a young couple that is short of money but desperately wants to buy each other Christmas gifts. Unknown to Jim, Della sells her most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy platinum as the chain for Jim's watch; unknown to Della, Jim sells his most valuable possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair. In the end ,both gifts became useless——short-haired Della got a comb andJim got a chain for an already-sold watch. What a surprising coincidence! However, when we look back, we can find that O.Henry had already given us some suggestions.”Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair.” This description is related to how they got the money for gifts and what they bought for each other. The author used a casual and vague tone deliberately so that few people would think over its meaning before seeing the ending. So the ending turns out to be unexpected but reasonable.This coincidence is filled with complex emotions. People feel touched by the long lasting true love between the young couple and at the same time ,pity for them for their “unwise” gifts and their cruel bitter life.Though confronted with cruel reality and dull daily routine, Della and Jim can never change their eagerness toward love. To them the most valuable material possession is so slight and insignificant ,when compared with the spiritual possession of love romance.Perhaps the gifts were "unwise" as the author says, but, as he further writes, "let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest.”In Th e Gift of the Magi , we feel so pity that Della has her precious long hair cut. But to our surprise ,Jim has sold the watch to buy the jeweled tortoise-shell combs for her wife’s hair. O.Henry does not end on the note of irony and surprise but gives to what he calls his uneventful coincidence of two foolish children the appearance of a little parable with a significant meaning. The magi , he reminds the reader ,were wise men who brought gifts to the Christ child. As for Jim and Della, the are the magi. This is the ending of the story with O.Henry’s own style.Chapter4 The Main Theme of O’Henry’s WorksIn his works, O.Henry presents the panorama of the American people to readers with ironic and humorous tone. O.Henry is sympathetic with the poor; he praises the human virtues and denounces human defeats. Humanity, as the eternal theme of O.Henry’s works, endows his works with perpetual artistic charm. Human being has many virtues from ancient times to the present. They are kind, brave, honest, hard-working, polite, thrifty, generous, and hospitable and so on. Some people pay a great deal in order to maintain these virtues, they sacrifice their own happiness even life for the lofty love and friendship; they help others without asking for rewards and regard it as a pleasure; they give up their own treasure and chance to others etc. Such people bring love and fine things to the world; they are the ones who endow the world with light and hope.Human beings have many defects, too. Sometimes t h e y are lazy, rapacious, gluttonous, officious, vain, arrogant, shameless, cowardly, impetuous etc. They benefit themselves at the expense of others, they never show mercy and sympathy to the poor in order to make money, they realize their own aims by hook or by crook etc. Their evil deeds make the world vicious. By exposing the human defects and the dark sides of the world, O.Henry wants to awaken p e o p l e’s conscience and deepest desire for all good things, so that people can use their efforts to save and cleanse the whole world.O. Henry creates a short stories which he could dominate the world , and the world as a whole is with light grey. O. Henry won't go to describe the upper-class life :a luxury and dissipation life.In contrary, he makes his writing focuse on a nobody wholives in the small world.From this world , O. Henry have created the world according to his own idea, in which expresses his sympathy as well as hate, reveals a "law of the jungle" in a capitalist society orthe rule of "the great fish eat the small one". All this, we can visit O. Henry's world from the point of O. Henry's works .Besides social deformities, O. Henry didn't forget to find a unique legend in that society. In a corner of the world, there are blooming love, friendship, lofty flowers with a spirit of sacrifice , beautiful soul and divine emotion interweaves the bright side of another society. This is mainly can be found in the part of his representative works. In The Gift of the Magi ,husband and wife be able to give up the things they proud - long hair and watch, for the Christmas gifts. Although ultimately failed to achieve, but the flower of love is brightly blossoming.For example:But on an unusually quiet corner Soapy came to a standstill. Here was an old church, quaint and rambling and gabled. Through one violet-stained window a soft light glowed, where, no doubt, the organist loitered over the keys, making sure of his mastery of the coming Sabbath anthem. For there drifted out to Soapy’s ears sweet music tha t caught and held him transfixed against the convolutions of the iron fench.<The Cop and the Anthem> The hymn of music brought homeless to restart the courage of life, which reflects the virtuous sideof societyChapter 5 ConclusionTotally speaking, in O. Henry’s works, the events of some short stories are arranged in the specific order which exceed reader’s normal expectation to the arrangement of those events in his works, make the ending unpredictable and strange. O. Henry deliberately designs the little tricks with words, for he is a master of language and not its slave. These unexpected but reasonable endings, in many conditions ,are the mos t remarkable parts in the novel. They also engage something profound in the human psyche and reflect social reality in that age . device that would become identified with his name. Wit, irony, cleverness, individuality and local color are also traditional earmarks of the typical O’Henry story. In addition, his warmth of human understanding and sympathy with the “underdog” give many of his stories poignancy. In memory of his great contribution to American literature, American literary circles set up Henry Award in 1918.References[1] Medrick, Fred. An introduction to American literature[M]. Henan University Press, 1985[2] Hudson, Long. O Henry The Man and His Work[C]. New Y ork:Russell and Russell, 1969[3] O, Henry, Heart of the West[M]. New Y ork: McClure, 1907[4] O, Henry, The Four Million[M]. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Company. 1906[5] O, Henry, 欧亨利短篇小说[6] 李国宁欧亨利式结尾的艺术魅力[7] 赵书颖“含泪的笑”与“含笑的泪”浅析欧•亨利的主题[8] 赵丽，黄春妮欧亨利作品导读[M]. 武汉武汉大学出版社2003 P3[9] 欧亨利四百万[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1988。

Anne Bradstreet, 1612-1672One of the first poets to write English verse in the American colonies. Long considered primarily of historical interest, she won critical acceptance in the 20th century as a writer of enduring verse, particularly for her sequence of religious poems "Contemplations," written for her family and not published until the mid-19th century.Anne Bradstreet was born Anne Dudley in Northhampton, England, in 1612. She was the daughter of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke. She lived in a time when the amount of education that a woman received was little to none. Even though she did not attend school, she was privileged enough to receive her education from eight tutors and from her father, Thomas Dudley, who was always more than willing to teach her something new. She was a very inquisitive young person who satisfied her hunger for knowledge through her extensive reading of some of the greatest authors ever known. Thanks to her father's position as the steward of the Earl of Lincoln estate, she had unlimited access to the great library of the manor. This is where she became exposed to the writings of many well known authors. In 1628 she married Simon Bradstreet, her father's assistant.In 1629, her father and husband had joined a group of very successful men, whose goal was to protect Puritan values from people like the Bishop of Laud and establish their own society in a new land. On March 29, 1630, Bradstreetand her family immigrated to the New World. Bradstreet was not too happy with the idea of giving up all of the benefits of the Earl's manor for what the wilderness of the New World had to offer. Nevertheless, Bradstreet spent three months on her ship, the Arbella, before she reached Salem on June 12, 1630. Ten other ships reached the Salem port soon after hers.When Bradstreet stepped foot on the soil of the New World, she was overwhelmed by the sickness, lack of food, and primitive living conditions. Regardless of all this hardship, she refused to give in and return to England and instead made the best of her new life. She struggled to raise eight children, take care of her home, and she still found time to write. Bradstreet lived a hard life, but she proved to be a strong women and this internal resolve is reflected in her writings.Bradstreet was bothered by the cultural bias toward women that was common in her time; the belief was that a woman's place was in the home attending to the family and her husband's needs. Women were often considered intellectual inferiors and because of this, critics believed that Bradstreet stole her ideas for her poems from men. Her writing was severely criticized because it was that of a woman, receiving a different kind of criticism than that of her male counterparts. The public had a similarly harsh reaction to Bradstreet's role as a female writer. When her first publication of The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America was released, the idea that she was a virtuous women had to be stressed. John Woodbridge, her brother-in-law, had to write: "By a GentleWomen in Those Parts" on the title page to assure readers that Bradstreet did not neglect her duties as a Puritan woman in order to write, by making it clear that she found time for her poetry by giving up sleep and using what little leisure time she had. We can see the anger that Bradstreet feels towards this kind of criticism about her writing in the following lines of her work "The Prologue":I am obnoxious to each carping tongueWho says my hand a needle better fits;A poet's pen all scorn I should thus wrong,For such despite they cast on female wits.If what I do prove well, it won't advance;They'll say it's stol'n, or else it was by chance.Simon Bradstreet played a crucial role in many of Bradstreet's works. She wrote love poems about him when he was around as well as when he was away on trips. In Bradstreet's Puritan culture, the love between husband and wife was supposed to be slightly repressed, so as not to distract one from devotion to God. Y et, some of Bradstreet's sonnets work against this idea. A good example of this is the poem, "To My Dear and Loving Husband," which contains the following lines:•If ever two were one, then surely we.•If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;•If ever wife was happy in a man,•Compare with me ye women if you can.•I prize thy love more than whole minds of gold,•Or all the riches that the East doth hold.•My love is such that rivers cannot quench,• Nor ought but love from thee recompense.•Thy love is such I can no way repay;•The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.•Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere,•That when we live no more we may live ever.致我亲爱的丈夫如果曾经两人默契，那是我和你。

高三文学经典英语阅读理解20题1<背景文章>"Jane Eyre" is a renowned classic of British literature. Written by Charlotte Bronte, this novel has left an indelible mark on the literary world.The story mainly revolves around the life of the protagonist, Jane Eyre. Jane is an orphan who endures a difficult childhood. She is mistreated by her aunt and cousins at Gateshead Hall. Despite the harsh treatment, Jane shows remarkable resilience. She is sent to Lowood School, where she again faces many hardships such as poor living conditions and strict discipline. However, she also receives an education there and forms some important friendships.As she grows up, Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall. Here, she falls in love with Mr. Rochester, the master of the house. Mr. Rochester is a complex character. He is brooding and has a dark secret in his past. Their relationship is intense and passionate, but it is also fraught with difficulties. Jane discovers that Mr. Rochester is already married to a madwoman locked in the attic of Thornfield. This revelation shatters Jane, and she decides to leave Thornfield despite her love for Mr. Rochester.In terms of theme, "Jane Eyre" explores many important ideas. It is a story of love and self - discovery. Jane is constantly seeking her ownidentity and a place where she can be truly happy. The novel also touches on social class differences. Jane, as a governess, is in a rather ambiguous social position, neither fully a servant nor a member of the upper class.The literary value of "Jane Eyre" is immeasurable. Bronte's writing style is vivid and engaging. She creates a strong and independent female protagonist at a time when such characters were not common in literature. The novel also has a powerful narrative that draws the reader in and makes them care deeply about the characters.In the context of the society at that time, "Jane Eyre" was quite revolutionary. It challenged the traditional view of women as submissive and inferior. It showed that a woman could be intelligent, independent, and have the right to pursue her own happiness.1. <问题1>What is the main reason for Jane's leaving Thornfield Hall?A. She doesn't love Mr. Rochester anymore.B. She discovers Mr. Rochester's dark past.C. She finds out Mr. Rochester is already married.D. She wants to explore the world on her own.答案：C。