摘 要

《麦琪的礼物》和《爱的牺牲》是欧·亨利创作的短篇小说故事。小说以第三人称视角全面描写了两对美国底层人民的夫妻在窘困的生活中挣扎却不忘对对方展现自己无私的爱。通过其“以小见大”的写作角度，描写了小人物最平常的的生活片段和其“以喜写悲”的写作手法，最直观体现在戏剧性的结局中，用让人啼笑皆非的意外结局来淡化主人公们悲剧性的生活。本文以两对夫妻的爱情为主要研究对象,分开阐述了《麦琪的礼物》和《爱的牺牲》中的爱情观。此外，本文还对甜蜜的爱情与苦涩的爱情进行了比较，并分析了欧·亨利对爱情的理解。最后，根据本文探讨欧亨利的爱观，着重探讨了自我牺牲的爱情观，并从多方面比较了主人公和欧·亨利共同点，从而进一步证明了故事中的爱情观就是欧亨利信仰的爱情观。同样是戏剧性的结局，从《麦琪的礼物》到《爱的牺牲》的悲剧性加深了，却是一种物质到理想的升华，更加衬托出爱情的伟大。

关键词：爱；苦涩；甜蜜

Contents

1. Introduction……………………...............………...........................................……1
2. Demonstration…………………………………......................................................2

2.1. The Relationship Between Love, Material and Ideal..................................2

2.1.1. Love is higher than material.................…............................................….2

2.1.2. Love is higher than ideal............................................................................3

2.2. The Sweetness and Bitterness of Love………...............................................5

2.2.1.The sweetness of love… .……………........................................................5

2.2.2.The bitterness of love………………..........................................................6

2.3. O’Henry’s View of Love..................................................................................7

2.3.1. Self-sacrificing view of love......................................................................7

2.3.2.O’Henry’s stories and real life ....................................................................8

3. Conclusion…………………........……………………..........................………….10

Works Cited……………………….............................…………………...................11

Bibliography……………………..............................…..…………………………...12

An Analysis of O’Henry’s View of Love in The Gift of the Magi and A Service of Love

1. Introduction

O’Henry (1862-1910), formerly William Sydney Porter, is an American short story writer and founder of modern American short stories. He was born in a family of doctors in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1862.

He began publishing works under the name of O’Henry. His main works include The Cop and the Anthem, The Last Leaf, and After Twenty Years. O’Henry, along with French writer Maupassant and Russian writer Chekhov, are the three greatest novelists in the world. He was praised as Manhattan laureate prose writer and father of modern American short stories.

The Gift of the Magi and A Service of Love had the tremendous influence on American short stories as soon as they were published. The Gift of the Magi is one of O’Henry’s most popular and beloved short stories. It has been rendered into film adaptations that are rolled out during the Christmas season. This classic tale of giving with O’Henry’s signature “twist-ending” has long been a model for later writers.

The characteristic of these two short stories is its “dramatic ending” and only at the last moment does the mystery finally unravels, surprisingly but reasonably. At the same time, the style of O’Henry’s “smile with tears” had a great impact on the literature of the time. Sad endings often contain something bright, called “smile with tears.” However, too many coincidences and accidental factors in his works lead to the gap between the works and reality. The American writer Dreiser said that “O’Henry was an entire pastime writer.” In Cambridge History of American Literature, it says, “O’Henry’s work is a little trick, dazzling, interesting, but it’s just a trick.”(qtd. in Liu Wenxiao 583)

The Gift of the Magi and A Service of Love because are two classic O’Henry stories. They have similar themes, plots and techniques. Indeed, there are similar coincidences and accidental factors in the two stories, but William Saroyan comments O’Henry that “how cleverly he told his story, concealing behind laughing language a profound love for the great masses of people who are frequently called the little people”(Humanities blog, May 12, 2010).

This paper, based on the existing research results home and abroad, takes two couples’ love as the main object to protrude O’Henry’s view of love in The Gift of the Magi and A Service of Love. The innovation of this paper lies in the sublimation from material to ideal, which fosters the greatness of love. In addition, this paper compares sweet love with bitter love, and analyzes O’Henry’s understanding of love. Finally, according to the text to explore O’Henry’s view of love, focusing on the self-sacrifice view of love, and compare the characters of the stories with O’Henry in many ways, so as to further prove that the viewpoint in the stories is O’Henry’s.

2. Demonstration