| This essay aims at analyze Realism embodied in the works by O. Henry. Introduction Realism in the 19th century is a great literary movement history. After the Civil War, the literary had been different from before. The brutal real life and the pain memories those left by the Civil War, made the Americans no longer believe romantic. They were tired of sentiment reflected in Romanticism. Then some new writers appeared. They abandoned the Romanticism view of elders’ and endowed the literary new experiences. Showed concern for the real life was the main character of this new literary. This new literary aimed at explaining the real life from every field, without prejudice, without the colors of Idealism and Romanticism. They no longer take care of live or died and individualism of heroes. They changed the notice to reality, described all the wild and foul things, and portrayed the class struggle directly. This period called “The Age of Realism”. In this period, there are many famous realists. O Henry (1862-1910) is one of them. O Henry was originally born William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was noted for his numerous short stories. In his life, he wrote more than 300 short stories. Each of his stories was famous for his humorous tone and ingenious plot, with the endings always contrary to reader’s expectations. In addition, as his work described numerous characters and gifted with life interests. Someone said his works “the humor encyclopedia of American life”. Actually, some critics called him “the father of American modern short stories”. O Henry’s short stories mainly described the daily life of common people, no matter how you analyze from any angles, you can find the strength of Realism. I Realism 1.1 The rise of Realism In literature, the term Realism is used to identify a literary movement in Europe and the United States in the last half of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. Realism is, in the broadest sense, simply fidelity to actually in its representation in literature. In order to give it more precise definition, however, one needs to limit it to the movement which arose in the 19th century, at least partially in reaction against Romanticism, which was centered in the novel, and which was dominant in France, England, and America from roughly mid-century to the closing decade, when it was replaced by Naturalism. Realism, as a literary movement, is usually called critical realism, because it rose as a reaction against the social reality. With the development of capitalism, the class contradictions, especially that between the worker and the capitalists, were becoming increasingly intense. Besides the main struggle between the capitalist and the proletariat, the capitalist’s struggle against the aristocrats and the remained feudalist power still kept . Moreover, the contradictions between the big capitalists and the middle or petty bourgeois class were also fierce. The profound social dislocation and urban poverty brought about by the social and economic changes created severe problems to which the political and intellectual leaders of the 19th century reacted in a number of ways. One group was the liberals, who wanted political reform based on the ideals of the French Revolution. Most of them were members of the middle class. They believed in voting rights for the property owners, protection of private property, and such individual rights as freedom of speech. Another group was the nationalists, those who wanted political independence for nationalities who shared the same language and customs. A third group was the socialists or those who believed that the people as a whole should own all means of productions such as land and factories. Thus followed a time of disillusionment and loss of hope, and brought about a revulsion against Romanticism. The need was felt for a return to what was plain and real. The realists wanted a truthful representation in their works of contemporary life and manners. They thought of their method as observational and objective. This idea of literature mirroring the real life was advanced in opposition to the then prevailing romanticism. Before long, realism grew to be a broad movement covering most branches of art and literature. Realism' s emphasis on detachment, objectivity, and accurate observation, its lucid but restrained criticism of social environment and mores, and the humane understanding that underlay its moral judgments became an integral part of the fabric of the modern novel during the height of that form' s development. The realist movement centered in the novel and laid emphasis on fidelity to actual experience. Thus, in art and literature realism came as a protest against the falseness and sentimentality, which realists thought they saw in romantic fiction. If romanticism allows full play to the imagination and stresses love of beauty and interest in the past, the central issues of life for realists tend to be ethical, of issues of conduct. And their democratic attitude tended to make them value the individual very highly and to regard characterization as the center of the novel. In this sense, realism means more than a literary method; it defines a particular kind of subject matter. 1.2 Realism in America American realism is a movement or trend that dominated American literature from the 1860s to the 1910s. It is a revolution against its predecessors, Romanticism. It is the result of social, political, economic and cultural changes. The Civil War, which was largely a struggle of industry and capitalist democracy against agriculture and slavery, was a turning point in American history. In the war, the industrial North defeated the agrarian South. After the war, a new society came into being. Industry developed at an unprecedented rate. The telephone and telegraph linked the United States to the outside world. Railroads were built, with which came vast commercial development and mobility. Many farmers, attracted by the prospect of factory work and higher pay, flocked to the industrial cities, causing an oversupply of labor. American cities expand at an alarming rate. However, the wealth was more that ever in the possession of the few: bankers and industrialists who represented the benefits of “business and bustle”. Business and financial tycoons were honored as national heroes and as models for the youth. It was the beginning of what Mark Twain called “The gilded Age,” an age of extremes: of decline and progress, of poverty and dazzling wealth, of gloom and buoyant hope-an age of gaudy excesses that one historian described as “The Great Barbecue.” In this setting, a new generation of writers, such as William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, Hamlin Garland, O. Henry and Jack London appeared. The background and training of these writers were different from their genteel and academic predecessors in that they were from the lower ranks of society. They were influenced by Zola, Balzac and Tolstoy and, out of their scorn of the previous literary practice, established a literature of realism. These realists sought to portray American life as it really was, insisting that the ordinary and the local were as suitable for artistic portrayal as the magnificent and the remote. They had what Henry James called “a powerful impulse to mirror the unmitigated realists of life.” Ⅱ About O. Henry His life experiences .And his The Four Million. O. Henry was from the lower rank of society. He worked in various jobs. Including a bookkeeper, a drugstore clerk, a Texas ranger, an accountant, a draftsman, a bank teller and a newspaper columnist. So he knew the common people’s life style well. In his story, he portrayed a wide range of common people we can easily run into in the streets. Such as white-collar men and women, art students, waiters, factory girls and millionaires to cops and crooks. He entitled his second book which was a collection of short stories about New York City. The Four million, In his eyes, the four million swarming multitudes of the high ways and by ways were the social basis of New York City. In contradiction to “the four hundred” of the City’s aristocratic social register. He used to wander about New york City, drifting into conversation with strangers on the streets or in the parks observing with an acute eye and ear, sights and sounds nuances of day and night on Broadway, in Greenwich Village, or on Wall Street. He was very familiar with ordinary people and the way he represents them in his stories gives the readers the impression that they meet these characters everyday. They haven’t any striking characteristics, not would they be easy to find in a large multitude of people. And they had a same feature “common”. |