英语专业毕业论文 On Humanity in O. Henry’s Short Stories.doc

Abstract O. Henry is one of the most famous writers in the early 20th century, enjoys equal status with Chekhov and Maupassant. Regarded as the founder of American modern stories, he played an important role in American literature. O. Henrys stories are famous for their surprise endings; such an ending is often referred to as an O. Henry ending. Most of O. Henrys stories are set in his own time, the early years of the 20th century. Many take place in New York City and deal for the most part with ordinary people. As a keen observer of American social life, He is good at digging out the inner human nature from common life in the lower class and makes readers think deeply about good and evil in the common life. Humanity became the dominated theme in his short stories. This thesis mainly analysis the humanity of characters revealed in O. Henry’s short stories by analyzing the representative stories selected from his works. It will mainly include three parts: the praise of human virtue; the criticism of human weakness; the cause analysis about the humanity theme. I use two major research strategies: literature search and case studies. Data have been collected from archives, periodicals, and published books, through case analysis to carry my points. This thesis will give people a better understanding about O. Henry’s works and his attitude towards humanity. Key Words：O. Henry; short stories; humanity 摘要 欧亨利是20世纪最著名的作家之一，和莫泊桑、契诃夫其名，称为世界三位短篇小说巨匠。欧亨利被称为美国现代小说的奠基人，在美国文学中扮演着重要的角色。欧亨利的短篇小说以出其不意的结尾而享誉世界文坛，通常被称为“欧亨利式结尾”。欧亨利的作品大多以20的美国社会为背景，描写小人物的喜怒哀乐。他善于从小人物的生活中挖掘人物内心的性格特征，让读者对人性的真善美和人性的丑陋有了更深的了解，人性是小说中永恒的主题。 这篇论文主要分析欧亨利短篇小说中的人性意识。通过此论文，人们会对欧亨利的小说有更深刻的理解，更重要的是对人性有个更深层次的感悟。关键词：欧亨利  On Humanity in O. Henry’s Short Stories 1. Introduction O. Henry is one of the greatest American short story writers in the 20th century, enjoys equal status with Chekhov and Maupassant, and he is regarded as “the founder of American modern short stories”. Many people think that O. Henry is famous fo