从《麦琪的礼物》看欧亨利的写作特色 .doc

【标题】从《麦琪的礼物》看欧?亨利的写作特色 【作者】刘 燕 【关键词】欧?亨利；麦琪的礼物；写作特色 【指导老师】白 敏 卢 静 【专业】英语 【正文】1. IntroductionO. Henry, originally named William Sydney Porter, is a distinguished American storywriter. He wrote more than 300 short stories in his life. His stories are full of colorful characters most of whom are derived from his inclination to wander streets and parks, and to talk to people of every kind and condition. And all of his stories are ingeniously conceived, with the endings always contrary to readers’ expectations. Though his stories’ endings are always surprising, yet it is not beyond reason, for both ways conform well to the logic of life. He creates an original, typically American democratic form of short stories with, at its best, a valuable critical awareness of life and society tellingly expressed through humor. Therefore, some critics call him?“the founder of American stories”. 1 Being gifted with humor and a keen awareness of details, he objectively shows us what America looks like. As his experience shows, the majority of people he met in his daily life are those in lower class?---- clerks, policemen, and waitresses. All his stories putting together constitute a true panorama of American life, or as someone said,?“The encyclopedia of American life”.2 Since 1918 The O. Henry Memorial Award had been established to be given annually to the best magazine stories, the winner and leading contenders’ works would be published in an annual volume. He uses a unique method to write so-called O. Henry’s technique. O. Henry’s technique is a big magic weapon, which leads this artistic master to his great success and brings us a huge wealth. This paper wishes to discuss some of the Writing characteristics in The Gift of the Magi.The old classic The Gift of the Magi concerns the unselfish sacrifice a young man and wife make in order to buy Christmas gifts for each other, each secretly selling his or her most prized possession. This information is revealed, of course,