1. Author information
O. Henry (1862～1910) was an American critical realist writer in the 19th century and an excellent short story writer. His original name was William Sidney Porter. He was born in a rural doctor's home in North Carolina in the southern United States. His family was poor. His mother died when he was 3 years old, and he was left to live with others. He had little education when he was young. He worked as a shepherd boy and an apprentice, and later worked as a clerk, draftsman, accountant, cashier and other jobs. He suffered from discrimination. In 1891, he founded magazines such as "The Anti-Traditionalist" in Houston, serving as editor, reporter and columnist. In 1898, while working as a bank clerk, he was accused of embezzlement because bank money was stolen and sentenced to 5 years in prison. He performed well in prison, worked as a pharmacist, had the opportunity to meet all kinds of prisoners, and heard all kinds of weird stories, which provided him with rich material for creation. While in prison, he began writing short stories under the pseudonym O. Henry. He was released early in 1901 and later moved to New York to specialize in writing.
O. Henry is a prolific writer. He wrote more than 300 short stories and one novel in his life. His works include the novel "Cabbage and the King" (1904), the short story "Forty Thousand Years" (1906), "The Voice of the West" (1907), "The Voice of the City" (1908), "Rolling Stone" (1913), etc. Representative works include "The Gift of the Magi", "The Police and the Hymn", "The Last Leaf", etc. O. Henry, together with France's Maupassant, Russia's Chekhov, and India's Tagore, are known as "the four masters of short stories in the world".
Writing background
When Western European critical realist literature began to decline, profound changes in real American society (after the Civil War) caused changes in literature. This is the rise and development of realism. . It emerged in the decaying stage of American capitalism, that is, in the era of transition from liberal capitalism to imperialism. At that time, the society was in conflict between the rich and the poor, and class conflicts were increasingly intensifying. During this period, some writers from the petty and middle bourgeoisie, starting from their own class, on the one hand, condemned the evils of the capitalist system, described the miserable lives of the people, and reflected the people's dissatisfaction with the rule of the bourgeoisie; on the other hand, they also The American bourgeoisie has illusions about democracy and has proposed various improvement measures. However, when the turbulent tide of imperialism came, they explored their personal destiny and destination with pessimism and despair. However, the spread of Marxist ideas also caused a great shock and divided the American writer group. Some writers who came from the lower class and tended to be progressive were influenced by the labor movement, experienced a process of ideological exploration, and were attracted by socialist ideals. Participated in the labor movement and began to create some more advanced literary works. The work is based on real life, reflects the miserable life of the lower class working people, exposes the cruel nature of the monopoly bourgeoisie, and accuses the rulers of persecuting the people. Rich in content, profound in revelation, and diverse in technique, it is an indispensable force in the American literary world and has left a glorious page in the history of American literature.