An Analysis of O Henry’s Short Stories from the Perspective of Humanism 从人文主义视角分析欧亨利短篇小说开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

an analysis of o henrys short stories from the perspective of humanism 从人文主义视角分析欧亨利短篇小说1.introductionborn on september 11th, 1862 at greensboro in the us, o. henry was the pen name of william sydney porter. at the age of 3 , his mother died of tuberculosis. then, his father brought him to move to the places where his grandmother stayed. sent to a private school of his aunts, he was enlightened the taste of literature. but he dropped out of school in 1877 and became a apprentice of a pharmacy by his uncle. o. henry came to the west by accident and soon fell in love with the life there. during his two-year time in a western ranch in lasalle county, texas, he was exposed to various careers and different people, which to some extent, enriched his experience and deepened his understanding of life. from lasalle county to austin, the capital of texas, o. henry gradually changed his situation. whats more, life in the west gave birth to his humor and took up a truly vital section of his short-story.but his misery was about to start. o. henry was accused of defalcation when he was working for the houston post one year after he left rolling stone. convicted, he was sentenced 5 years. the time in jail was the time he began his life as a real writer. after released from the prison, he moved to new york city in 1902 with his daughter. his life seemed to step on the right track. known as a professional writer, owning hundreds of short stories, he received both reputation and fortune. bad habits and endless addiction also started to invade his life. thus, life was not easy for him. gambling and addicted to alcohol could ruin ones life so did o. henrys. due to the pursuit of quick earning, he wrote more but unevenness.works of o.henry are more related to life. life in the west, life in some cities and life in latin america consist of the majority of his stories. unlike the life in higher class, o. henrys stories focus more on the poor. it is the poor who show the love and warmth at the same time reveal the value of human. also famous for his humorous language and surprising ending, o. henry becomes the father of the modern american short story. these two features of his work always make him stand out from the crowd. in his work, he lifted the virtue onto a high level. he praises the human virtues. human-beings are a kind of creature that sacrifice their own happiness even life for lofty love and friendship. as the eternal theme of o. henrys works, humanity endows his works with perpetual artistic charm in literature history.referred to his background, his work mainly reflected what the whole environment is like, especially in new york city. reading his works is like going through the life that time in new york city. in the 19thcentury, with the sustained development of trade and the boost of european immigration, new york city has gone through great changes. a large population rushes into the city from not only ireland but also germany. modern new york city is merged in 1898. for o. henry, it is a good chance to engage in the new metropolis. so he starts his life in new york city. above is the environment in new york city. o. henry himself also has tried a lot of various jobs, which is one of the internal environment for a writer. he has worked as a singer, a painter, a reporter and so on. it is this life experience that successfully shapes those characters vividly. misfortune of his family may also influence his writing style and humanistic themes.the thesis will be analyzed from the perspective of humanism. humanism as a theoretical system concentrates more on the maintain of human dignity. what is advocated is the characteristics of each individuals and the cares for it. thus, humanism figures out the significance of individual equality, individual liberation and self-esteem. humanism is formed in the period of renaissance. as a ideological weapon, is influences literacy works of later generations. the combination of realism and romanticism leads humanism to reserve part of moral mentality and character passion. modern humanism begins from the enlightenment. branches such as atheism, scepticism, rationalism, are defined as supernatural. but now, it gains more and more recognition with the development of materialism. besides, there is one thing in common , the value of human-beings, specifically, self-esteem. scholars put forward their understandings of self-esteem. virginia satir, a famous psychological therapist has pointed out that self-esteem is the source of personal power, the capability of facing oneself. no matter what is the most important, individual itself or the interpersonal relationship.2. literature reviewas one of the most influential short-story writes around the world, o. henry successfully wins reputation at home and abroad. he is later titled withthe maupassant of americaandthe greatest three masters of short novels in the worldwith the french writer maupassant and the russian novelist chekhov. his short stories gain readers favor from two aspects, the unique artistic style and the humanity of character. even theodore roosevelt regards him as the one who starts roosevelt on the campaign for office girls. some readers think the reason why his short stories are so welcomed is that they are closely related to readers daily life and the thought-provoking arts of humanity hidden inside.o. henrys short stories has drawn great many attentions among public since they are published. some researchers put emphasis on o. henrys language arts as he is famous for the endings which are imaginative and beyond readers expectation rather than the common traditional one. zhang(2018) figures out that o. henry is skilled in elaborating the plot with his own humor, specifically, ironic art. by special perspective of organizing the short stories, he pictures the life of ordinary people living in some metropolis with a variety of rhetorical devices. due to the uniqueness in his linguistic styles, how to translate these classic short stories of western countries as acute as possible becomes a thought-provoking question. thus, translation research of o. henrys language is also made by lots of scholars. at the same time, translators learn from the process of analysis to update themselves. as a realistic author, o. henrys realism shown in his works is also a point for a relative minority to explore. but in this aspect, his realism surpasses realism itself.in a conclusion, previous theses have paid attention to various perspectives of o. henrys short stories, such as the writing style and realism while some of the scholars put forward the theme of humanity in his works, which enlighten the humanism occurred in those short stories. for example, du(2013) confirms the theme of humanity in o. henrys short stories and regards it as a unique feature of his works. in the short storythe last leaf,o. henry depicts the picture of helping others. through the description, the humanistic colors shines in the darkness of city. fu(2015) discusses the female characters in o. henrys short stories and their value of marriage. he pointed out that unlike other realistic writers, o. henrys stories often begin with tragedies and turns into comedies at last. in this way, the theme of humanism can be highlighted. to this extent, wang duan (2013) come up with the idea of exploration of beauty in human nature, especially the dedication to love. they list characters living in the bottom of manhattan to exemplify their idea. detailing humanism, literary researchers also notice the values of characters he shapes, especially the female one. those female characters in western works insert an influence the pursuit of self-esteem in the east. furthermore, it is the humanism that underlies in o. henrys short stories, which inspire cui(2013) the further functions of o. henrys short stories as a way of educating. facing the obstacles, characters often appear to be tenacious and cordial, which the tremendous power cannot be ignored. therefore greater value of o.henrys works await for exploration.the purpose of the thesis is to further analyze the humanistic color in o. henrys short stories. although some of the former researchers have dug into this field, few of them have looked into more than one stories and deepen into the humanism. trying to do some research and analysis in humanism with o. henrys short stories, the thesis hopes to open a new area beyond linguistic feature and artistic technique. whats more, the causes of o. henrys humanistic color cannot be separated from his own life experience. therefore, combining the background and the short stories is of great need. at last, the thesis will be enlightening to readers in virtues of humanity and pursuit of individual value as well as paving a way for children forming their values in further education.3.conclusiono. henrys works contain humanistic color. not only from the themes that he wants to convey but also from the dialogues and behaviors of characters in detail, these short stories give out the light of humanity. at the same time, o. henrys humanism witnesses the development of western humanism in america.the thesis focuses on three of the most famous short stories where o. henry shows his humanism. in any stories, characters lead readers into the plot. in the three stories chosen, they are old behrman inthe last leaf ,magi inthe gift of the magi, soapy inthe cop and the anthem.firstly,old behrman inthe last leafrepresents an artist who is the one closest to arts. he is a poor artist with the only masterpiece is the last leaf draw on the wall, which support joanna through the toughest times. secondly, magi inthe gift of the magiis an ordinary worker of that time who is the one closer to arts. magi sells her most valuable hair to buy her husband a christmas gift. lastly, soapy inthe cop and the anthemis a stroller who is at the bottom of the city and is the one distant from arts. although he takes every chance to let himself be arrested, he fails. but when he hears the anthem from a church, he realizes what on earth he wants. he makes a decision of finding a job the time he is caught. they are from three different occupations although they are all poor in common. it is through the poors eyes that o. henry reflects the warmth in the city and among human. it is through these three character that o. henry express humanistic care and the value of each individual. it is though the short stories that o. henry gains popularity and his state in world literature.three different characters represents three different life experience, but they all give readers a hint. in the process of pursuing personal value, sacrificing is inevitable. whats loftier is to sacrifice oneself in order to help others or in order to reach a higher stage. plotting the blueprint of future is easy but what is uneasy is the overcoming of temporary lure. the pursuit of humanism may lies in this. eyes on the further future rather than the present is like one way of sacrificing oneself to step onto a broader stage in the higher sky. o. henrys short stories can be seen as the development of modern humanism in american culture. but sometimes western humanism cannot deepen into the essence of human. o. henry also think his work is jetton to bread. the cambridge history of american literature make a comment on o. henry that his works are no more than little tricks and just interesting. american writer theodore dreiser calls him a writer for entertainment. but for o. henry, he holds audience of a century. those ordinary one find themselves in the stories. thats themselves in the past or in the future more real.referencebeers, a. h.(2013). brief history of english and american literature. tianjin: tianjin peoples publishing house.hudson, l.(1969).o henry the man and his work. new york: russell and russell.o. henry.(2010).selected stories of o. henry. shanghai: sdx joint publish company.o. henry.(1907).heart of the west. new york: mcclure.o. henry.(1906).the four million. new york: dobleday, doran and company.proctor, robert.(1998).defining the humanities. indiana: indiana university press.satir, v.(2011).your many faces: the first step to being loved(english edition).berkeley:celestial arts.wolfgang, i.(1978).the act of reading: a theory of aesthetic response. london : the johns hopkins university press.xu, y.(2015), investigating the new horizon of humanism in the psychological lens,academics,10.yu, f(2018), artistuc techniques in o henrys novels and how they strengthen the realism,overseas english,11.崔世文（2013），论欧亨利小说的人文教育价值，《语文建设》，6。

杜艳霞（2013），欧亨利小说中的任性主题，《短篇小说（原创版）》，21。

富冬青（2015），欧亨利小说中的女性角色及婚姻价值观，《东北师大大学报（哲学社会科学版）》，4。

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

The thesis will be organized by going through the original short stories by O. Henry. Based on the theory of humanism, the thesis will present some typical characters he shapes and the deep emotion to the humanism in O. Henrys works. The thesis will also give an analysis of the causes and American society through humanism. Following are some methods that will be applied in the thesis.Literature review: referring to the questions that have been put forward, the thesis will be written by searching for previous studies and information related to the topic.Exemplification: showing examples will make the thesis more convincing as well as the conclusion more persuasive. Besides, examples are helpful to sort comprehensively, especially in detail. Thus, the thesis will present as many examples as possible.Analysis and induction: by analyzing the personality of characters, the thesis will induce the common characteristic of characters selected. By inducing those in common will the thesis illustrates the theory better and the understanding may be deepened.