A Study of Writing Style on O.Henry´s - The Last Leaf-

A Study of Writing Style on O.Henry´s - The Last Leaf- A Study of Writing Style on O.Henry’s “ The Last Leaf” abstract:o. henry’’s novels are still popular today because of his humorous language,the deep thoughts and his distinctive art of ending——unexpected but still reasonable. this article will take “the last leaf” as an example, studies the ending and the techniques in the novel in two aspects. key words: humorous,art of ending, unexpected 1.the use of humor in the last leaf. in “the last leaf”, the writer used figures of speech,for example,”a cold, unseen stranger”“smiting his victims by scores”“the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. “ the pneumonia “stalked about” the colony, “touching” here and there 、”strode boldly” . the writer used vivid metaphor and personification.in this way, the readers could clearly feel that the pneumonia struck the small town and caused many deaths. this also paved way for the further development of the plot——johnsy got infected and was pessimistic. the dialogues are also very interesting. when talking about johnsy’’s condition,instead of saying “confidence is important to survival”, the doctor used another way. “lining-u on the side of the undertaker”. it’’s a more vivid description and we can feel that those who had lost their confidence were bound to die. another example is “count the carriages in her funeral procession” .on the other hand, the doctor referred to the optimistic state as “ask one question about the new winter styles in cloak sleeves”. they all added an humorous opponent to the story. 2.the art of ending in o.henry’’s novel, in the given circumstances, people could expect a normal ending. but suddenly, there occurs an occasional change. the characters’’ behaviour and their fate transfer to a totally different track. it is very unique and often makes the readers feel unexpected. but if you carefully study the ending, you will find that it’’s quite natural because the writer has made foreshadowing for it . in “the last leaf”, as we are reading, we will never think that johnsy would recover and it was just the old artist inspired her. the old artist used his precious life to create a masterpiece. “the last leaf” was not a genuine leaf. it was a fake one that was painted on the wall by the old painter. but if we carefully study the novel, we can find some foreshadowings set up for it. for example, when johnsy lay on the bed ,she looked through the window at “the blank side of the next brick house”. so we know there was a blank on the wall so that a leaf could be drawn on it. “after the beating rain and fierce wind that had endured through the livelong night”,there still existed one leaf. we could have doubted if a true leaf could stand such fierce wind . “even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall.” we can see that this place was exactly where johnsy had been staring at. and the other day, “the ivy leaf was still there. “. all these indicated that there must be something special of the leaf. as for the old artist, the writer also set him up in the text. “he had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it.” but after having read the whole story, we know that he eventually painted his masterpiece, the last leaf,which saved the life of a young artist. such kind of ending aroused much thinking about friendship and human nature. the last leaf would last forever and would not fade . it not only reflected the great skills of the great artist, but also his selflessness. his life and spirit would be kept in people’’s mind forever. 3.conclusion in the last leaf, we can appreciate the sense of humor, enjoy the unexpected development of the plot and get to know the upright characters. all these features can also be found in his other works and this is why his novels still have a great influence on the world. bibliography 1.任诚刚、王玉敏. 杰作里的真正杰作[j]. 山东师大外国语学院 学报 2001(02) 2.刘洋、刘舒琳. 生命的杰作[j]. 时代文学 2011(04) 3.陈燕. 浅析《最后一片叶子》的文体特征[j]. 安徽广播电视大 学学报 2010(04)