The Reading of the Main Characters in The Last Leaf from the Perspective of Realism_英语论文

摘要

欧·亨利是美国著名现实主义小说家，本文将分析其短片小说《最后一片叶子》。《最后一片叶子》叙述了三个主要人物的生活故事。论文运用威廉·迪恩·豪威尔斯的现实主义观点从小说的客观性，和小说的真实性，包括人物描写的真实性，故事情节的真实性，对小说《最后一片叶子》的主要人物进行分析，旨在论证小说《最后一片叶子》的真实性，了解其描写的美国社会底层人民的生活，并从中体会小人物的生活态度，及其传达的人与人之间的爱。

关键词: 现实主义  豪威尔斯  《最后一片叶子》  欧·亨利  三个主要人物

Abstract

The Last Leaf is one of the short stories of American critical realist writer O. Henry (1862-1910). The paper is going to analyze the story The Last Leaf which described a short story about three main characters in the America. The three main characters of the novel were Johnsy, Sue and Behrman. From the perspective of the realistic ideas of William Dean Howells, an American realist, this paper is going to analyze the three main characters in the reality of the story, the reality of the characters and the reliability of the plot, hoping to prove that the novel is a realistic work and show the American society in 20th century when American experienced rapid urbanization aiming to spread the love between characters in the novel to encourage public who are caught by the difficulties in life.

Key words: Realism  Howells  The Last Leaf  O. Henry  the three main characters

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  A Brief Introduction to O. Henry 1

1.2  A Brief Introduction to The Last Leaf 2

1.3  Purpose of the Thesis 2

1.4  Structure of the Thesis 3

Chapter Two  Literature Review 4

2.1  Previous Studies on Theory of Realism 4

2.2  Previous Studies on The Last Leaf 4

2.3  Summary 5

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 7

3.1  The development of Realism 7

3.2  Realism 8

Chapter Four  The Reading of the Main Characters from the Perspective  of Realism 9

4.1  The Objectivity of the Writing Angle 9

4.2  The Story Coming from Experience 10

4.3  The Reality of Characters 12

4.3.1 The Complexity of Characters 13

4.3.2 The Unique Characters 15

4.4  The Reliable Plot 16

4.5  Summary 19

Chapter Five  Conclusion 20

Bibliography

Acknowledgements