摘 要：欧·亨利是世界三大短篇小说巨匠之一，一生创作三百多篇短篇小说，以幽默独特的“欧亨利式风格”描写美国社会的平凡事，挖掘背后的社会现实，表现出对人性的高度关注，对社会的剖析和反思。本论文首先对欧·亨利的生平经历和小说特点作出简要介绍；其次，根据欧·亨利的短篇小说作品分析其中的主题思想，即歌颂人性中的真善美，批判社会的假丑恶；最后依据欧·亨利的主题思想总结对现代社会的意义。

关键词：欧·亨利；短篇小说;人性

Abstract  ：O Henry is one of three greatest short stories master of the world, during his lifetime, he wrote over 300 short stories, with the unique humor “O Henry style” to depict ordinary things of American society, dig the social reality and show great concern for humanity and social reality. Firstly, This paper would make a brief introduction to O Henry’s life experience and the features of his short stories; Secondly, based on the works, this paper would analyze the theme of O Henry’s short stories, that is praising the beauty of humanity and exposing the ugliness; Finally, the significance of the theme of human nature is summarized.

Key words: O Henry; Short Stories; Humanity

Contents

摘 要 i

Abstract ii

I. Introduction 1

II. A General Introduction to O Henry and Short Stories 2

2.1 Social Background 2

2.2 Life experience of O Henry 3

2.3 O Henry’s Short Stories 4

III. Characteristics of Humanity 8

3.1 Praising Beauty of Humanity 8

3.2 Exposing the Ugliness 11

IV. The Significance of the Theme of Humanity 13

4.1 Reflecting Social Reality 13

4.2 Reflection of human nature 14

V. Conclusion 14

Bibliography 15

Acknowledgments 17

The Theme of Humanity in O Henry’s Short Stories

I. Introduction

O Henry is active in the American literary world during end of the 19th century and the early 20th century, who was famous for his short stories, known as “the Father of the modern American short stories” .( Long 2)

In O Henry’s writing career, he wrote a novel, as well as more than 300 articles and short stories. His short stories are of simple structure, easy to be accepted and comprehended. Applied kinds of materials which from all sides of American society, he tried to show the reality of the capitalist society, and dig out the human nature of different people.

As for the studies on O Henry’s short stories, there are some reviewers and scholars studied on the background of O Henry and his works, such as the American reviewer Eugene Curran’s paper, the Research of O Henry’s Short Stories. In the domestic, there are many studies on his works. The Study of O Henry’s Humor Style written by Pu Lili, that is pided into three aspects, language, ending and rhetoric, to study O Henry’s writing style. The Writing Style of O Henry written by Wang Bingxia, which focuses on the structure of the works, and finds out the unique writing style of  O Henry. Although the theme of O Henry’s short stories doesn’t attract many reviewers’ attention, there are some articles talk about it. Probe into the Theme of Human Nature in O Henry’s Short Stories written by Fan Lin, focuses on the human nature of the American society; Analysis on the Theme of Human Nature in O Henry’s Works written by Cheng Jing, based on O Henry’s works, she explores the different humanity in the various situations. In fact, there are some studies analyze the specific work, such as Interpretation of Theme of “the Cop and the Anthem” written by Lei Yu, A Study on the Theme of O Henry’s “the Last Leaf” written by Luo Yu and Humanity and Love of “the Gift of Magi” written by Fang Yao.

In view of these studies above, the studies on O Henry’s short stories pay more attention to the writing style and the specific theme of his works. In order to make a general analysis of the theme of humanity in O Henry’s short stories, in addition to introduction and conclusion, this paper would be pided into three 3 parts. The first part, it would make a general introduction to O Henry and his short stories; The second part, it would analyze the theme of humanity, which is pided into praising the beauty of humanity and exposing the ugliness; The third parts mainly discusses the social and cultural significance of humanity theme and its enlightenment and reflection to the society.