欧亨利短篇小说的主题思想和语言特点_英文_

大 众 文 艺大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 Jack. The Call of the Wild. [M]New York: Airmont Publishing Co. Inc, 1964.[2] Pizer, Donald. American 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-story writers 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 United States.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 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 EvilsHuman 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 thatpeople can use their efforts to save and cleanse the whole world.2 Features of Language of O’Henry’s Works2.1 Figure of Speech 2.1.1 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. In order to tell the harsh truth in a mild way, he asks David to 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。