英语本科毕业论文-A Brief Analysis of O’ Henry’s Writing Style of The Last Leaf.doc

A Brief Analysis of O Henrys Writing Style of The Last Leaf摘要：欧哼利是美国二十世纪最著名的短篇小说家。他的作品因结构设计巧妙，结尾出其不意而为人称道。他语言幽默，描写的人物富有生活情趣，因此被誉为“美国生活的幽默百科全书”。“ 欧亨利式结尾”以出人意料的写作手法，使小说极具戏剧性并享誉世界文坛。最后一片叶子就是一个典型的代表。作者运用了幽默讽刺的戏剧手段，及其出其不意的结尾，揭示了人性的主题，让文章升华。欧亨利擅长于人物心理的描写，同时还包括社会背景所反映的人性特征。总之，这种独特的艺术结尾激发了人们对人性特点的深思，而人性特点又升华了艺术结尾，对读者的心灵产生了持久的震撼力。本文通过分析这种写作手法和人物特征来达到对小说内涵更准确的把握，从而帮助读者透过表象看到作者真正的意图，进而发现其作品中的艺术魅力。关键字：欧亨利；作品；写作手法；分析AbstractO Henry is the most popular short-story writer at 20th century in American, who is know as one of the originators of modern short story. His works are famous for its ingenious art conception, as well as unexpected ending. Describing the characters with humorous language and full of life interest, O Henry is known as the “Humorous encyclopedia of American life”. OHenry ending style wakes the novels extremely dramatic by unpredictable writing technique. The last leave is a typical representative. The author often gives irony and surprising ending. He let the theme sublimate. OHenry was good at using psychological description of the human characters which reflected social background. In all, this king of special artistic ending inspired the people to think about the characters about human nature, while the characters of human nature sublimated. The thesis analyses the writing method and character feature to grasp accurately the connotation of the novel, then help the reader read the real intention through representation, and then catch sight of the artistic glam in this works.Key words: O Henry; writing style; humanityContents中文摘要AbstractAcknowledgements Introduction .Literature ReviewA. A Brief Introduction to O Henry B. A Brief Introduction to The Last Leaf 1. The Main Content 2. The Theme 3. The Characters The Writing Style of O Henry A. The Writing Features in The Last Leaf B. The Feature of Characters C. The Feature of Language . TheInversionEndingA. The Definition of the Inversion Ending B. The Function of the Inversion Ending C. The Inversion Ending of The Last Leaf Conclusion Notes noteBibliographyI. IntroductionA. Literature ReviewA. A Brief Introduction to O Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862-June 5, 1910), was known by his pen name O Henry. As a master of short stories, O Henry was called the American Guy De Maupassant. O Henrys short stories are known for their smart, wordplay, and clever twist ending. It roots in his rich experience of life.Throughout his life he wrote more than 300 short stories. His stories are great number of warm characterization and most of them are root in the real life. He shows us an style of the original and typical American democratic. He factually narrates a real America where the lower class lives in. All his stories make up constitute a true complete picture of American life.In order to learn more about O. Henrys articles, we should pay some particular attention to what happened in his life and why he wrote stories such as The Cop and the Anthem. O. Henry, whose given name is William Sydney Porter, was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and aunt. William was an avid reader, but at the age of fifteen he left school, and then worked in a drug store. He moved to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including one as a bank clerk. In 1884 he started a humorous weekly publication called The Rolling Stone. When the paper failed, he joined the Houston Post as a reporter and columnist. In 1897 he was convicted of embezzling money, although there has been much debate over his actual guilt. In 1898 he entered a penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio. While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, Whistling Dicks Christmas Stocking (1899), appeared in McClures Magazine.2 After serving three years of his five year sentence, Porter emerged from the prison in 1901 and changed his name to O. Henry. He moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, while also publishing in other magazines.Having dropped out of school, dealing with the loss of his wife, and being subjected to prison life, O. Henry was totally aware of the cruelty of being a “small potato” in society. His experience shows the majority people he met in daily life were those from the lower class of the society such as clerks, policemen, and waitresses. This helped him to get involved with the majority of the working class who are the real people who are face various kinds of stress every day. However, surprisingly, this is also where true love appears.In His most famous story, The Gift of the Magi3 he spins the tale of a young couple who are short of money but desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. The husband sells his only favorite watch to buy a set of combs for his wife, while she uses the money from selling her beautiful hair to buy him a pocket chain. The author arranges the entire plot just to make readers anticipate the excitement of the outcome. From the beginning, the readers keep guessing what the couple will buy for each other, and the irony of their gifts is the greatest suspense the author puts into this story. Finally the author gives the answer to the readers question in the ending: Mr. Henry found his love in the lower class of society which kept me wondering, “Where can we find the true love in our life?” Perhaps love is just like a story with a twisted ending; it might seem normal or even a bit sad from the outside, but to the people who are in the story, and those who are aware of the true meaning of love, happiness will remain in their heart for a long time. Even though O. Henry made some mistakes during his life, most people will still remember him as a prolific and prominent American short-story writer; a master of surprise endings. We are not allowed to judge a person only by his experiences; moreover, readers can always tell an authors personality through his words. O. Henry has always been a favorite in American literature for his acute perspective of the creatures living in society, and his peculiar writing style of the twisted ending. Smile with tears and laugh with touched heart-what more can we ask from lifes stories?B. A Brief Introduction to The Last Leaf1. The Main Content The last leaf is one of the O Henrys short story. In this paper, author strive to praise the great personality and character of the little people, and show them yearn for the good wishes of human world. Sue and Johnsy are good friend who have the same interests and hobbies. They shared a studio. However, Johnsy has got pneumonia that is slight of figure. Her lie weakly on the bed. Doctor told her friend Sue that her illness can heal only one percent of hope. And its up to her if she really wants to live. She always thinks about that she will never recover. Sue is so sad. She pretends to be a pleasure appearance of the spirit and begin to draw in the room. At first, she thought that Johnsy was sleep, until she heard her voice count. In the first place, she quickly fall the leaves in a few tree. Sue asked she why did that. Johnsy said that I would die when the last leaf falled down. Sue felt Johnsys idea was negative but cant convince her. Sue turned to seek help and hope from Behrman. Behrman is a sixty-year-old man who lives on the ground floor under Johnsy and Sue. Although he has not managed to paint his masterpiece so far, he still insists on his painting work. The old man does care about Johnsys condition, and he does his bit to help her. Since that day, he begins to spend the rest of the day to paint his masterpiece on the brick wall. As time goes by, Johnsy realizes that the last leaf is still there and she is still alive. She is cheered up by the scene she sees. However, on that stormy night, Behrman catches pneumonia while he is painting his masterpiece, the old man, the unknown painter dies from a severe cold as his shoes and clothes are wet through. Last leaf, last love Yesterday I heard a heart-stirring story written by O Henry. It said in an autumn, a sad girl lied on the bed. She has a bad serious illness. And she would die soon. She looked attentively at a leaf outside the window, and told to an old painter who cared for her that she would die when the last leaf fell. The old painter didnt want the young girl to die; he wanted to give her a wish to live. He knew that there would be a rainstorm soon; the leaf will be blown off. For continuing the girls life, the old painter drew a green leaf on the wall when it rained heavily.2. The ThemeThroughout the whole story, we could known that a great number of emotion with each other. Johnsy and Sue were best friend who has the same hobbies, and they help each other. Although they live in poverty, they still in order to dream hard. Sue always care about Johnsy when she knew her friend got pneumonia. During cure Johnsy, Sue had been taking care of her and worry about her. In the same time, there has a vital person who is their neighbor Behrman. He was a good man. He always concerned about the girls, even paid through the nose for save Johnsy s life. From this short story, we can be summed up the three points.Firstly, showing the human indifference cruel in the realistic society. They are a group of struggle for the dream of artist. They live in the gutter. No one takes care about them when they suffer the pneumonia. Secondly, there are high praise of beauty and kindness for human nature. It is the life of the improvised instead of the accidental referring to the last leaf about the three painters. They would be great painters. Being in the low class of the society, they extremely long for success, and they make their best effort to create a masterpiece. They encourage each other, and be willing to make a sacrifice at any moment without hesitation. They will not fade next to the upper class because of poverty. The other way around, they are remarkable because of their fraternal love. And the priceless friendship is just like the ivy leaf which constitutes their noble spirit. The last, pursuit of the value of life. It is not only for the natural life to cherish, but also pursue for art life. Johnsy would know the life sense when she realized that Behrman saved her life. The poor own the spirit of unselfishness and sacrifice. Readers are glad and delighted to see the cheering up of Johnsy after losing Behrman.3. The Characters PersonalitySue is Johnsys roommate and an intimate friend who is described such an smart, optimistic, kind and friendly artist. She takes care of Johnsy and imagines her in her fight against the illness during this time.Johnsy is an excellent girl, but has a frail body. In fact, she is expecting to live a happy and romantic life. She got pneumonia, life seems hopeless, however, she never loses hope for life and fight to stay alive even live longer. She counts the leaves, for she thinks about that she is going to die relative to the last leaf falling.At the very start, readers impression of Behrman is a man who is full of self- conceit. He has always wanted to finish his masterpiece, but finally nothing can be done. However, it is a complete surprise to all of us that the last leaf he painted brings back Johnsys life. In other words, he is a man who is warmhearted and emotional. Besides, he reflects humanity.Johnsy is a young woman from California who has come to New York to be an artist. Physically, all we really know about her is that she is small - she is described as a mite of a little woman.Emotionally, people would say that Johnsy is a little immature. A person who would convince herself that the span of her life is controlled by a leaf on a vine is not someone who thinks clearly. You might say shes mentally strong because she can convince herself to live or die. But its a bit of a negative quality.Behrman is a person who wants others to be happy. Although when for the first time sue told him about Jhonsys fantasies about the leaf, he reacted very badly and gave Jhonsy moral support which can be provided to her by preventing the last leaf from falling. He risked his life and painted a picture of the last leaf on the opposite wall in the terrible cold weather. he is a down to earth person and a gem in millions.The doctor, in fact, is so selfish. He seems concerned about Johnsys illness. However, he does nothing for Johnsy s disease. The Writing Style of O HenryWhen people try to describe O. Henrys writing style, they always use the term “smile with tears,” which implies his twisted way of thoughts and endings about every story. These stories usually end in a humorous but also cruel kind of way. Its absolutely useful to elevate the artistic thought in writing a thoughtful story. A. The Writing Features in The Last Leaf O Henry is one of the leading short story writers, and the meaning he usually expresses has great originality of sample language. His ending type that king of O Henry always can give a person a kind of accident. O Henry talks about in The Llast Leaf that is a heavy dangerous patient looking the leaves out of the window ,which the patient regards it as a hint of her own life. Once the last leaf falls, she also dies. Finally, an old painter saves her, and gives her hope. We can learn from the three aspects:Firstly, word selection is accuracy, concise and vivid. The biggest characteristic of his words is easy to understand. At the beginning of the novel, he often uses the same specific and accurate words. The author brings readers a maze. For example, “angles”, “curves”, “cross”, those words are exact and vivid. It can express complex terrain. The word “colony” can express that people are in poverty live there. However, there are still outstanding artist and excellent works of painting in the story. The Last Leaf has a sentence: Then she swaggered into Johnsy s room with her drawing board,” “Swaggered” is rather than “walk in a self-satisfactory”. We can know that Sue do not want Johnsy worry about her, and she deliberately pretends to be fine.Secondly, it has the diversification of sentence patterns. In The Last Leaf, simple sentences are more than complex sentences; Short verses are more than long verses. Such as the second paragraph in the novel Foeman, Henry James.New Books Review: OHenrys Short StoriesJ. The North American Review, 1998: So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling, hunting for north windows and eighteenth- century gables and Dutch attics and low rents. Then they imported some power mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth Avenue, and became a “colony”. When we read that, we will feel fluency and vivid. Nonetheless, if author all use simple sentence that will be donkeywork.Lastly, the paragraph arrangement is clever. In the first, doctor told Sue that her friend can be saved just has 10 percent chance. There are seeds underneath it. When people all sympathized Johnsy and the last leaf, however, the old man died.B. The Feature of CharactersO Henrys short story is popular and easy to understand. No matter what happened, and no matter who is protagonist. His story always describes that the relation of the world and American style. In a general way, the desire of people is quite complex. But the thoughts of his characters relatively are simple. The center of the conflict seems to be the poor and the rich.O Henry often wandered about New York City over a long period of time, and sometimes arrogance chat with strangers on the streets or in the parks. Day after day he was very familiar with ordinary people and the way he stands for them in his stories gives the readers the impression that they meet these characteristics, they would not be easy to find in a multitude of people and they had a same feature ordinary. On the other hand, as O Henry lived in the bottom of society, he knew life could be very tough for people from the low class, and he knew the law could be very cruel to poor people. Therefore, he showed great sympathy for the poor, resulting in the fact that the poor were usually of good qualities in his works. The abjection people in O Henrys short story, could still express love and show solicitude for others. In order to buy her husband a platinum chain as a Christmas gift, his wife sold a head of show hair. Her husband for the same purpose, sold the watch to buy his wife asset of comb. Although each others gift lost use value, their relationship is priceless. He is in order to encourage poor and stick young artist to survive. The old artist painting a leaf of never withered in the wind and rain night. For his work at the expense of life, but the young artist is live. These are the little things and ordinary people in the life, but they can help others.O Henrys success is that he is good at grasping the typical scenes in life. In small fragments of life, the dilemma the protagonist must make a choice. It can not only depict character psychology, also can show life contradiction. The scene arrangement he puts is proper, so within short length to achieve the effect of art and ideas.C. The Feature of Language O Henry is the representative of the American ordinary people because he is also one of the ordinary groups. Regarded as the founder of American short stories, he is skillful in using a great number of language features in his novel. The language he uses is on the basis of the development of the plots, which is characterized with humorous words, vivid characters and strong regional features. He is also adept at creati