浅析欧·亨利短篇小说中的女性角色塑造_英语论文

An Analysis of the Female Characters in O. Henry’s Short Stories

摘要

欧·亨利是20世纪初美国著名短篇小说作家，凭借出乎意料的“欧·亨利式结尾”闻名于世，以幽默、诙谐的语言和故事情节，反映了19世纪末20世纪初都市底层劳动人民的生活。

本论文将研究欧·亨利短篇小说中的典型女性形象，探讨欧·亨利笔下女性的爱情观婚姻观和家庭生活观以及其中女性的独特性。欧·亨利以悲剧开始、喜剧结尾的独特叙事手法来描写爱情和婚姻，其笔下女性的优秀品质使读者们印象深刻。这些女性人物善良质朴，都甘愿为爱做出无私的奉献，这些处于社会底层的女性小人物对待婚姻生活和爱情抱以认真、忠诚的态度，其笔下的爱情超越了婚恋加物质、肉欲与心灵描写的传统小说创作模式。当今的中国正经历一段社会过渡时期，本文希冀为给女性带来一些恋爱和婚姻观方面的启发。

关键词:  欧·亨利  女性角色  短篇小说   婚姻价值观

Abstract

O. Henry, a short-story writer in the early 20th century, is especially famous for his unexpected ending. He explores the lives of ordinary people in the late 19th century and early 20th century with humorous language and distinctive plot. 

This thesis analyzes a few female characters to reflect on the values of love, marriage and family life and at the same time explore the uniqueness of female character in O. Henry’s short stories. With unique writing techniques, beginning with tragedy while ending in comedy, those women’s excellent qualities impress readers. They are kind and simple, willing to make sacrifice for love, having positive and loyal attitude towards love and marriage. It is beyond traditional female models which always combine love and marriage with material gains or sensual descriptions. As China is presently undergoing some transitional period, this thesis tends to shed some light on the values of love and marriage for women. 

Keywords:  O. Henry  female characters  short stories  value of love and marriage

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 O. Henry and his short stories 1

1.2 Literature Review 1

1.3 Theoretical Framework 3

1.4 Thesis Structure 4

2 Some female characters in O. Henry's short stories 6

2.1 Women in love 6

2.2 Women in marriage 9

2.3 Women seeking self-actualization 11

3 Reflections on the female characters 12

3.1   Progresses and limitations of the female characters 12

3.2   Cause of O. Henry's writing style about female characters 13

3.3   Enlightenment to modern Chinese women 15

Conclusion 17

Acknowledgements 19

References 20