1。2 O·Henry’s works论文网

     O·Henry was a prolific American short-story writer, but he started his novelist career in prison。 During his lifetime, he published 10 collections and over 300 short stories。 His first collection, Cabbages and Kings, appeared in 1904。 It was the only long novel of O·Henry。 This novel was mainly about monopoly capital of plunder in Latin America。 Many other works quickly followed, such as The Ransom of Red Chief, The Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room。 O·Henry’s best known story is The Cop and the Anthem。 It tells a story of Soapy who is homeless and wants to be arrested by the policeman in order to get through the winter。 His stories are famous for his humor in language and the unexpected endings。 O·Henry’s stories are mainly set in the early 20th century when he lived in New York City。 He likes to describe the hard life of lower class in the capitalist world in order to expose the darkness of capitalism and praise lofty virtues of being willing to help others and the spirit of self-sacrifice for love and friendship。     

1。3 O·Henry’s themes   

1。3。1 Criticism     

     O·Henry is one of the greatest critical realist writers in America。 He is mainly directed to the capitalist world’s epitome - major cities in the eastern United States。 O·Henry sympathizes with the suffering of the people living at the bottom of the society and praises their virtues。 And he hates the inequality and hypocrisy of capitalism。 His eastern city novels are to expose and criticize the dark reality of capitalist society。 But his criticism is hidden because he should try to cater to the requirements of publishers and editors and pass bourgeois censorship。 So he cannot choose but use a number of deliberate digressions in his stories。 Seeing big things through small ones is a typical way for O·Henry to criticize them snugly。 O·Henry is good at choosing the slices of his familiar daily life in order to express significant problems by using the unique artistic and ingenious forms。 

     This is what The Furnished Room talks about。 An important character is the landlady of the furnished room。 O·Henry describes her meticulously, for example her first appearance in the story。 “A housekeeper who made him think of an unwholesome, surfeited worn that had eaten its nut to a hollow shell and how sought to fill the vacancy with edible lodges。”( Henry, 36) The housekeeper is just the petty bourgeois who are cold and brutal。 O·Henry thinks of them as the worn which are parasitic on the society by draining laborers’ hard-earned cash。 The housekeeper is the epitome of bourgeois at that time。 And the furnished room is the mixed world’s epitome。 It makes us truly feel the dark and rotten side of the society。文献综述

     The ending is that the young man and the girl he looked for not only died in the same furnished room but also chose the same way。 The housekeeper is the significant element that leads to this tragic ending。 She didn’t tell the young man the truth that the girl died in her furnished room for her own benefit。 It shows hard life of people from the lower class and indifferent and selfish society。 This article reflects various people and problems in that period of America。 All these attribute to increasing social conflicts and the live crisis of people, especially people from the lower class。 Also it is challenging for moral concepts in front of new social life。 

1。3。2 Humanity themes

     The age when O·Henry lived and wrote stories was the period of the speedy development of American capitalism。 During this time, it caused rapid development of capitalists, intensive capital and rapid expansion of big city。 However, its disadvantages soon appeared。 It came into being that the undisguised relationship with money and the degeneration of bourgeoisie。 Cruelty and inexorability, which were brought by life-and-death competition and insatiable exploitation among capitalists, killed human sense and sensibility and destroyed human nature。 In this background, human nature became the principal theme of O·Henry’s stories。 He not only praised those who observe humanity but also attacked those who violate it(Ruan 78)。