欧亨利短篇小说的主题思想和语言特点-英文-
拦街福-三江学院分数线
大众文艺58day forward, Buck lived for that
man. After being with this man for quite some
time, Buck started to hear a call from far
away. He started paying more and more attention
to this call. He went out for days at a time
searching for its source. This call was the call
of
the wild. He had a will to go off and be
with other dogs .He felt the urge to be freeform
man
and catch his own food. One day, Buck
finally left for good. He was excepted by a pack
of
wolves who treated him like a wolf himself.
And so the transformation was complete. Buck
had changed from a dog, to a beast of nature.
Bibliographies [1]London Jack. The Call of
the
Wild.[M]New York: Airmont ,1964.[2]Pizer,an
Realism
and Naturalism.[M]Shanghai: Shanghai
Foreign Language Education Press,2000.[3]The
New Encyclopaedia Britannica,15th ed.1993.[4]蒋
承勇(主编).欧美自然主义文学的现代阐
释.[M]上海：复旦大学出版社,2002[5]柳鸣九.
自然主义大师佐拉.[M]上海：上海文艺出版
社,1989作者简介孙海晶（1983年-），女，满
族，河北省遵化市人，北京第二外国语院，英
语专业
O’Henry, one
of the three most famous short-storywriters in the
world, enjoys equal status
with Chekhov and
Maupassant. His short stories are famous for its
unexpected ending, as
well as their exquisite
conception. O’Henry’s sympathy for the poor social
underdogs, his
eulogy of human virtues.
es and exposure of human evils are
highlighted as the keynote of his works. Humanity
endows his works with perpetual artistic
charm. His short stories are typicallyAmerican,
portraying various types of people in the
UnitedStates.1 The Main Theme of O’Henry’s
Works1.1Human Virtues In his works, O’Henry
presents the panorama of the American
people
to readers with ironic and humorous tone. O’Henry
is sympathetic with the poor; he
praises the
human virtues and denounces human defeats.
Humanity, as the eternal theme of
O’Henry’s
works, endows his works with perpetual artistic
charm. Human being has many
virtues from
ancient times to the present. They are kind,
brave, honest, hard-working, polite,
thrifty,
generous, and hospitable and so on. Some people
pay a great deal in order to
maintain these
virtues, they sacrifice their own happiness even
life for the lofty love and
friendship; they
help others without asking for rewards and regard
it as a pleasure; they
give up their own
treasure and chance to others etc. Such people
bring love and fine things
to the world; they
are the ones who endow the world with light and
hope.1.2 Human Evils
Human beings have many
defects, too. Sometimes they are lazy, rapacious,
gluttonous,
officious, vain, arrogant,
shameless, cowardly, impetuous etc. They benefit
themselves at the
expense of others, they
never show mercy and sympathy to the poor in order
to make money,
they realize their own aims by
hook or by crook etc. Their evil deeds make the
world vicious.
By exposing the human defects
and the dark sides of the world, O’Henry wants to
awaken
people’s conscience and deepest desire
for all good things, so that people can use their
efforts
to save and cleanse the wholeworld.2
Features of Language of O’Henry’s Works2.1 Figure
of
Speech2.1.1 MetaphorIn O’Henry’s writings,
metaphor is another feature which is worth
mention.” A symbol differs from a metaphor in
that its application is left open as an unstated
suggestion, whereas the metaphor ties a
concrete image to an identifiable abstract
quality. ”The image in metaphor represents
specific meaning. But the symbolic image
remains indeterminate in its
possible meanings; it is usually a substantial
image in its own
right, around which further
significances may gather according to differing
interpretations.
The metaphor under discussion
here does not mean that as a rhetorical device or
figure of
speech, though the metaphorical
sentences as wonderful as the one “Manhattan, the
night-blooming cereus, was beginning to unfold
its dead-white, heavy-odored petals ”teem in
O’Henry’s short stories. What is to be probed
is the metaphor exploited as a skill in
story-
writing. In the third branch of Roads of Destiny,
the hero David Mig not is a shepherd,
but he
is too indulged in writing poems to take enough
care of his sheep. The flock steadily
grows
smaller and his wife keeps on complaining. Then
one of his friends introduces him to a
learned
man called Georges Bril, David asks Monsieur Bril
to read his poems, because he
wants to know if
he shall write more or give his attention to his
sheep. When Monsieur Bril
has read all the
verses, he concludes that David has no talent for
poem-writing. Inorder to
tell the harsh truth
in a mild way,he asks Davidto look at the crow in
the tree. Instead of
commenting on the poems
directly, Monsleur Bril praises the crow that is
content with his
lot. In this metaphorical way
he advises David tactfully not to try to write
poems any more.
David sees the point and feels
discouraged. He goes back home and thrusts his
poems into
the stove. Hearing the rustle of th
e欧亨利短篇小说的主题思想和语言特点张明洋1刘映雪2
（1.长安大学人文学院西安710064
2.沈阳师范大学旅游管理学院沈阳110034）【摘要】欧亨
利是美国二十世纪初期最著名的短篇小
说家之一。他的作品有趣而又意味深长，反映了当
时美国的社会现实。并且他的作品因其奇巧的艺术构思
，出其不意的结尾而著称。他的作
品散发人性美与人情美的芳香。本论文将分析欧亨利作品的主题思想以
及从修辞层面和写
作技巧方面分析他的作品的语言特点。【关键词】欧亨利；短篇小说；主题思想；语言
特点
【Abstract】O’Henry is one of the greatest
American short story writers of the 20th century.
His short stories, depicting American society
of his time, are both interesting and
thought-
provoking. And his short stories are famous for
its unexpected ending, as well as
their
exquisite conception. His works was full of the
beauty of human nature and the human
interest.
This thesis intends to analyze the main themes and
features of O’Henry’s works
from rhetoric
aspect and writing
techniques.【Keywords】O’Henry；short story；main
theme；
features of language文艺评论大众文艺58day
forward, Buck lived for that man. After being
with this man for quite some time, Buck
started to hear a call from far away. He started
paying more and more attention to this call.
He went out for days at a time searching for its
source. This call was the call of the wild. He
had a will to go off and be with other dogs. He
felt the urge to be free from man and catch
his own food. One day, Buck finally left for good.
He was excepted by a pack of wolves who
treated him like a wolf himself. And so the
transformation was complete. Buck had changed
from a dog, to a beast of nature.
Bibliographies[1]London Call of the
Wild.[M]New York: Airmont
,1964.[2]Pizer,anRealismand
Naturalism.[M]Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign
Language Education Press,2000.[3]The New
Encyclopaedia Britannica,15th ed.1993.[4]蒋承勇(主
编).欧美自然主义文学的现代阐释.[M]
上海：复旦大学出版社,2002[5]柳鸣九.自然主义
大师佐拉.[M]上海：上海文艺出版社,1989
作者简介孙海晶（1983年-），女，满族，河北
省遵化市人，北京第二外国语院，英语专业
O’Henry, one of the three
most famous short-storywriters in the world,
enjoys equal status
with Chekhov and
Maupassant. His short stories are famous for its
unexpected ending, as
well as their exquisite
conception. O’Henry’s sympathy for the poor social
underdogs, his
eulogy of
human virtues and exposure of human evils are
highlighted as the keynote of his
works.
Humanity endows his works with perpetual artistic
charm. His short stories are
typically
American, portraying various types of people in
the UnitedStates.1 The Main
Theme of O’Henry’s
Works1.1Human VirtuesIn his works, O’Henry
presents the panorama
of the American people
to readers with ironic and humorous tone. O’Henry
is sympathetic
with the poor; he praises the
human virtues and denounces human defeats.
Humanity, as the
eternal theme of O’Henry’s
works, endows his works with perpetual artistic
charm. Human
being has many virtues from
ancient times to the present. They are kind,
brave, honest,
hard-working, polite, thrifty,
generous, and hospitable and so on. Some people
pay a great
deal in order to maintain these
virtues, they sacrifice their own happiness even
life for the
lofty love and friendship; they
help others without tasking for rewards and regard
it as a
pleasure; they give up their own
treasure and chance to others etc. Such people
bring love
and fine things to the world; they
are the ones who endow the world with light and
hope.1.2
Human Evils Human beings have many
defects, too. Sometimes they are lazy, rapacious,
gluttonous, officious, vain, arrogant,
shameless, cowardly, impetuous etc. They benefit
themselves at the expense of others, they
never show mercy and sympathy to the poor in
order to make money, they realize their own
aims by hook or by crook etc. Their evil deeds
make the world vicious. By exposing the human
defects and the dark sides of the world,
O’Henry wants to awaken people’s conscience
and deepest desire for all good things, so that
people can use their efforts to save and
cleanse the wholeworld.2 Features of Language of
O’Henry’s Works2.1 Figure of Speech2.1.1
MetaphorIn O’Henry’s writings, metaphor is
another feature which is worth mention.” A
symbol differs from a metaphor in that its
application is left open as an unstated
suggestion, whereas the metaphor ties a concrete
image to an identifiable abstract quality.”
The image in metaphor represents specific
meaning. But the symbolic image remains
indeterminate in its possible meanings; it is
usually a substantial image in its own right,
around which further significances may gather
according to differing interpretations. The
metaphor under discussion here does not mean
that as a rhetorical device or figure of
speech, though the metaphorical sentences as
wonderful as the one “Manhattan, the night-
blooming cereus, was beginning to unfold its
dead-white, heavy-ordered petals” teem in
O’Henry’s short stories. What is to be probed is
the metaphor exploited as a skill in story-
writing. In the third branch of Roads of Destiny,
the hero David Mig not is a shepherd, but he
is too indulged in writing poems to take enough
care of his sheep. The flock steadily grows
smaller and his wife keeps on complaining. Then
one of his friends introduces him to a learned
man called Georges Bril, David asks Monsieur
Bril to read his poems, because he wants to
know if he shall write more or give his attention
to his sheep. When Monsieur Bril has read all
the verses, he concludes that David has no
talent for poem-writing. In order to tell the
harsh truth in a mild way, he asks Davidto look
at the crow in the tree. Instead of commenting
on the poems directly, Monsleur Bril praises
the crow that is content with his lot. In this
metaphorical way he advises David tactfully not
to try to write poems any more. David sees the
point and feels discouraged. He goes back
home
and thrusts his poems into the stove. Hearing the
rustle of the欧亨利短篇小说的主题
思想和语言特点张明洋1刘映雪2（1.长安大学人
文学院西安710064 2.沈阳师范大学旅游管
理学院沈阳110034）【摘要】欧亨利是美国二
十世纪初期最著名的短篇小说家之一。他的作
品有趣而又意味深长，反映了当时美国的社会现实。并且他
的作品因其奇巧的艺术构思，
出其不意的结尾而著称。他的作品散
发人性美与人情美的芳香。本论文将分析欧亨利作品
的主题思想以及从修辞层面和写作技巧方面分析他的
作品的语言特点。【关键词】欧亨利；
短篇小说；主题思想；语言特点【Abstract】O’Hen
ry is one of the greatest American short
story
writers of the 20th century. His short stories,
depicting American society of his time,
are
both interesting and thought-provoking. And his
short stories are famous for its
unexpected
ending, as well as their exquisite conception. His
works was full of the beauty of
human nature
and the human interest. This thesis intends to
analyze the main themes and
features of
O’Henry’s works from rhetoric aspect and writing
techniques.【Keywords】O’
Henry；short story；main
theme；features of language文艺评论