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... e literary device irony is utilized. Irony is an amusing or surprising contradiction. It is a difference between what is expected and what ends up taking place. In "The Cop and the Anthem" Soapy tries to get arrested by taking a silk umbrella from a man. However, the man just thought Soapy was its rightful owner because he had found it earlier.
Also, when Soapy finally decides to get a job and become a decent man when he gets arrested. Also, O. Henry's stories reflect his life. As you can see irony can be very humorous. O Henry had many qualities that made him a good writer. He focused his eyes on an immense variety of objects.
He was tirelessly interested in people and could make people tirelessly interesting. He was at his best a sublime humorist, and was blessed with a popular faculty of being able to impress the flavour of himself on a page. And today, you will still find him held in affection by a great many people who will not bear a word against his method and its results. His manner is usually that of the garrulous tale teller, and his style is almost invariably breezy, flippant, and slangy, with puns, malapropisms, and big words used for humorous effect. O. Henry used to use a simple narrative and descriptive language.
He usually utilized simple words so that the common Americans could easily grasp. And as it is clearly seen when reading one of his short stories in general and in particular The Cop and the Anthem which my report is based on, we find a short humourous description of characters and the events as not to take much time in telling the story to the readers. Here, in the present story, we notice that the story revolves around one character. This is to focus more specifically on only one person as to give him all the attentions he deserves. The main character would then recent a group of people, for instance, Soapy behalf's the of-no-fixed-abode community in New York.
The writer often uses the colloquial language as to show the culture of the New York or Texas societies, and here, he shows the way the homeless people in New York City do think of for the prison. As we can obviously see, Soapy named the jail Island as though it is the real shelter to the true confort and warm and also the source of energy where he can eat and drink. During his lifetime, O. Henry worked in a cigar store. In "The Cop and the Anthem" Soapy walks into a cigar store and takes the man's umbrella. As you can see, many parts of his stories are influenced by his life.
Eugene Current-Garcia, in his book O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), spoke about this American author as a minor Classic writer who occupied a permanent, unique spot in the American literature. He said: To condemn O. Henry's stories in toto for not being realistic and serious, for depending too heavily on coincidence, and for playing to the gallery is an evasion of the critic's responsibility -- unless it can be shown that these characteristics invariably result in badly written stories.
This, O. Henry's severest critics have seldom been willing to do. His intention rather than his achievement has been the object of their censure, and the result is that O. Henry criticism... has swung from the one extreme of thoughtless adulation to the opposite one of hasty and ill-considered dismissal, based too cavalierly upon the examination of individual stories... What needs to be done, on the contrary, is to recognize first...
that O. Henry is a minor classic who occupies a permanent, unique spot in American literature; and, second, to seek to understand his uniqueness in the light of his total accomplishment... One way to account for this mysterious afflatus is to recognize that at the core of O. Henry's being lies an element of surprise or wonder, as though everything his eye lighted on were sufficient cause for startled pleasure... The most obvious technical manifestation of O.
Henry's delight in the unexpected is, of course, in his famous surprise endings; for scarcely a single story among his three hundred fails to meet his specifications for a conclusion other than the one the reader is apparently being prepared for (1) Another critic, Arthur Voss, spoke about the theory of Short Story in the eyes of O. Henry as a mixture of realistic setting with realistic characters and humourous effects that lead to an unexpected ending. He said, His manner is usually that of the garrulous tale teller, and his style is almost invariably breezy, flippant, and slangy, with puns, malapropisms, and big words used for humorous effect. His stories are liberally sprinkled with asides in which he addresses the reader in a familiar and chatty tone. Literary allusions, often made facetiously, are common, and there are many references to other writers...
Although he usually used stock story formulas, O. Henry had an undoubted gift for devising ingenious variations on them. Coincidence figures largely in his stories, and they often have a surprise twist, or "snapper, " as O. Henry called it. Unabashed sentiment and the broadest kind of comedy and burlesque are other conspicuous ingredients. In addition, O.
Henry usually made his contrived stories illustrate some more or less serious theme. (2) Sometimes O. Henry was quiet and serious, and once he said... "Poverty is so terrible and so common, we should all do more than we do -- much more -- to relieve it. " There can be no doubt about his sincere sympathy for those who needed help, but were unable to help themselves. Stories like "Brickdust Row" and "An Unfinished Story" caused Theodore Roosevelt to say, "It was O. Henry who started me on my campaign for office girls. " Because of this interest in the unfortunate, especially the victims of environment, the stories of O. Henry take on sociological import. He presented the shopgirl, the derelict, and the woman of the street, the gangster, against the background that produced them.
He knew that environment could cause tragedy, and he realized the injustice of a system which would permit an employer to pay a clerk only six dollars a week... "The Cop and the Anthem" depicts the damaging effects on the lives of those whose surroundings are inadequate and squalid. (3) O. Henry writes in many different ways. He wrote all short stories throughout his life and columns in papers and magazines. In his stories, he put alot of information about jails and policemen. Possibly this having something to do with his troubled life?
O. Henry also used alot of literary devices such as irony, in almost all of his stories. He also used alot of allusion, smilies, and metaphors. O. Henry did alot during his author career after dying at the young age of 49. Many praise him by saying he is known as being the best short story author ever existed.
This is because of his characters and his endings. His stories appeal to all because of his generic yet easy to relate to characters. People could easily see what the characters were about. Despite his problems at his banking job and the loss of his first wife, he managed to turn his life around and become a very successful writer. Some critics loved him while others disapproved of him saying that his stories were nonsense. But, on the contrary, they were all stories about poor people living in New York or Texas that were vagabonds or just having no chance in living a normal life.
All his stories were characterised only socially. With his distinct twist endings (surprising) and familiar characters O. Henry had an instantly recognizable style that had never been seen before. While he had done some writing before, it was during his three-year incarceration in the Columbus, Ohio Penitentiary for fraud that he began to write seriously. American writers wrote, The stories usually have a comic tone, to be sure, but distinctly uncomic possibilities often exist just at the fringes. Although Porter was widely popular in his own time, today his reputation has suffered.
Dictionary of Literary Biography: Volume 78, said: Perhaps the reputation of no other American writer has undergone a more rapid and drastic reversal than that of William Sydney Porter. It also says that while Porter commanded a readership of millions he now is not as interesting to readers as he is to critics in todays time. But although he may have the popularity that he had in the 1900 s, his works are still considered literary classics are still read worldwide.
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Research essay sample on O Henry Short Stories
