O.Henry

William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) Born William Sidney Porter, this master of short stories is much better known under his pen name "O. Henry." He was born September 11, 1862 in North Carolina, where he spent his childhood. His only formal education was received at the school of his Aunt Lina, where he developed a lifelong love of books. In his uncle's pharmacy, he became a licensed pharmacist and was also known for his sketches and cartoons of the townspeople of Greensboro. At the age of twenty, Porter came to Texas primarily for health reasons, and worked on a sheep ranch and lived with the family of Richard M. Hall, whose family had close ties with the Porter family back in North Carolina. It was here that Porter gained a knowledge for ranch life that he later described in many of his short stories. In 1884, Porter moved to Austin. For the next three years, where he roomed in the home of the Joseph Harrell family and held several jobs. It was during this time that Porter first used his pen name, O. Henry, said to be derived from his frequent calling of "Oh, 'Henry'" the family cat. By 1887, Porter began working as a draftsman in the General Land Office, then headed by his old family friend, Richard Hall. In 1891 at the end of Hall's term at the Land Office, Porter resigned and became a teller with the First National Bank in Austin. After a few years, however, he left the bank and founded the Rolling Stone, an unsuccessful humor weekly. Starting in 1895 he wrote a column for the Houston Daily Post. Meanwhile, Porter was accused of embezzling funds dating back to his employment at the First National Bank. Leaving his wife and young daughter in Austin, Porter fled to New Orleans, then to Honduras, but soon returned due to his wife's deteriorating health. She died soon afterward, and in early 1898 Porter was found guilty of the banking charges and sentenced to five years in an Ohio prison. From this low point in Porter's life, he began a remarkable comeback. Three years and about a dozen short stories later, he emerged from prison as "O. Henry" to help shield his true identity. He moved to New York City, where over the next ten years before his death in 1910, he published over 300 stories and gained worldwide acclaim as America's favorite short story writer. O. Henry wrote with realistic detail based on his first hand experiences both in Texas and in New York City. In 1907, he published many of his Texas stories in The Heart of the West, a volume that includes "The Reformation of Calliope," "The Caballero's Way," and "The Hiding of Black Bill." Another highly acclaimed Texas writer, J. Frank Dobie, later referred to O. Henry's "Last of the Troubadours" as "the best range story in American fiction." Porter died on June 5, 1910 in New York City at the age of forty seven. An alcoholic, he died virtually penniless. O.Henry is the pseudonym of William Sydney Porter. He is a famous American writer of short stories and noted for his masterful ironic O.Henry?s Twist. “The twist ending”(or sometimes the O.Henry ending) means at the end of an article the mental status or the fate of the character has changed greatly, and also this change is based on certain reasons have mentioned in the previous article. But the whole passage is suddenly endowed with a great charm because of the sudden change and caused a long and deep consideration of the situation or problem the article has revealed. This kind of ending is often seen in the O.Henry articles and also the most successful ones are in O.Henry articles. Most of O.Henry's stories are set in his own time, the early years of the 20th century. Many take place in New York City, and deal for the most part with ordinary people: clerks, policemen, waitresses. His stories are also well known for witty narration. He was called the American Guy De Maupassant, a French author of the naturalistic school who is generally considered the greatest French short story writer. Both authors wrote twist endings, but O. Henry stories were much more humorous and optimistic. His most famous story, "The Gift of the Magi" concerns a young couple who are short of money but desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. Unbeknownst to Jim, Della sells her most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch; unbeknownst to Della, Jim sells his most valuable possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair. The author arranged the entire plot just to get the readers to wait, to cause an suspense, the pleasurable excitement and anticipation of the outcome. From the beginning, the readers keep guessing what the Jim and Della will buy for each other, and the coincidence of their gifts is the greatest suspense the author put in his article. And then the author give the answer to the question, here is the ending: The Gift of the Magi sacrifice, or giving up something for someone else, is the main theme in The Gift of the Magi. The true unselfish love that the characters, Jim and Della, share is greater than their possessions. Love is the greatest gift of all. Money can't buy you love. A gift must come from the heart. Beauty comes from within St. Matthew recorded that the Magi brought three gifts, each also having a prophetic meaning: gold, the gift for a king; frankincense, the gift for a priest; and myrrh-- a burial ointment, a gift for one who would die.