On Positive Human Natures in O.Henry’s Short Stories

1 Introduction

As one of three masters of short stories, O.Henry is very famous for his short stories featured with plain writing style and surprising endings. Whoever has read his stories will be deeply impressed by the way in which he tells and ends his stories. We will find the story told in a direct way and ironic tone .Although each word, each sentence seems so simple that we will mistake it as that form newspaper article. When they are put together as a whole, it looks so wonderful and humerus that we would not help laughing.

However, when it really comes to an end ,something unexpected might take place. After reading through the all the passages except the last one, we might come to the conclusion that something happy or unhappy could happen. But O.Henry tells about its contrast. And when we find it unexpected and look back into previous passages ,we have to acknowledge that it’s really ended up in a reasonable way. This is what “surprising ending “ refers to.

2 2 Personal experiences and literary career of O.Henry

2.1 Ups and downs of life

Using the pen name O. Henry, William Sydney Porter wrote nearly 300 short stories that brought him worldwide fame. During the two decades following his death, his stories were more popular than those of any other American writer. Moreover, the twists and turns of his own life sound like one of his stories. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, and raised by his grandmother and aunt after his mother's death. At 16, he left school to work in his uncle's drugstore. Later he moved to Texas and worked on a ranch there. At the age of 25 he married Athol Estes.

After the birth of their child, they moved to Austin, Texas, where Porter became a bank clerk. Several years after leaving this position, he was suspected of having embezzled bank funds. Porter fled to Central America to avoid trial. When he returned to visit his dying wife, he was arrested, convicted, and jailed for three years. Throughout, he...