Besides the pure love, the sincere friendship is moving as well。 Fan Yuehong(2008) thinks that “The Last Leaf shows us a classical picture of great friendship and self-sacrifice”。 “The last leaf, Behrman’s masterpiece, contained a far-reaching significance, and it reminded us that despite the hardships of life, friendship, self-sacrifice, and all the goodness in humanity gave us strength to change the current state and pursue a better tomorrow”。 Zou Jiyan(2011) also believes that O。 Henry praised the friendship and the self-sacrifice in the story The Last Leaf。 She thinks that we can see the goodness of a person under his ordinary appearance and the 

sincere friendship between people even in the hard situation。 Life is so precious and we should cherish it and also care other’ s life, even at the cost of our own life。 It shows us the glory of human nature。 

    As for other beauty of human nature, Fan Yuehong(2008) sees the beauty of mercy in humanity in the story A Retrieved Reformation。 “In the story, the detective gave Jimmy an opportunity to start a new life, which was full of sympathy--- the beauty of mercy in humanity。 Love moved Jimmy, Jimmy moved the detective, and the beautiful feeling deep in human nature moved the readers”。 

    Duan Jihong and Wang Lei(2013) say that many stories of O。 Henry’s depict the fraud。 And his depiction of the frauds reflects the darkness of American society。 In those stories, he can also create the warm family affection。 In the story A Double-Dyed Deceiver, Llano seeks to seize the property of the Urique。 But Mrs。 Urique gives all her love to Llano and it touches him because he has never received the family affection before。 And finally he gives up the plan and his humanity awakes。 It is the love from the family that moves him and its power is great。

    Fan Lin(2006) has also mentioned some other beauty of human nature in his study of humanity in O。 Henry’ s short stories。 The story Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen praises the precious faith in human nature。 At that time, this spirit was so scarce。 The story Masters of Arts praises the unyielding self-esteem of two poor painters。 Facing the money and power, White and Keogh did not give in and defended the dignity of human nature。 Squaring the Circle sings the praises of interpersonal forgiveness。 来,自,优.尔:论;文*网www.youerw.com +QQ752018766-

    The reasons why the theme of O。 Henry’s short stories is always the human nature are various。 Tian Fang(2008) lists two points, one is his life experiences and the other is the social background。 For the first reason, Tian (2008) says that O。 Henry’s short stories reflected his life experiences。 In his early life, he lived a miserable life and did a lot of jobs。 Tortuous life, rich experience, unique perspective and keen observation, making him put the various phenomena of society in his works。 O。 Henry suffered a lot in his life and he knew the pain of the “small potatoes”。 For the second reason, Tian (2008) finds that most of O。 Henry’s stories described the society of his time。 From 1880s to the early 20th century, with the gradual development of capitalism, social contradictions are becoming increasingly prominent。 O。 Henry lived at the bottom of society for a long time, the social phenomena made him feel sympathetic to the contradictions。 He was full of sympathy for the poor, and he criticized and exposed the bourgeois exploitation from different angles, and voiced the lower working people’s anger against exploitation and oppression。 He tried to expose deeply the social evil of upholding money。 Gu Yanjun(2013) also mentions the similar reasons why O。 Henry chose human nature as the theme of his short stories。 So I think the life experiences and the social background play an important role in O。 Henry’s writing theme。 And he was influenced a lot。  欧•亨利短篇小说中的人性美(3):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_87906.html