Theme Of Irony In O Henry

Hà Thị Ngọc Thúy

TA40A

MSV: TA40A – 012 – 1317

O. Henry (1867 – 1910), an American writer, who is famous mainly for his short stories. These stories usually focus on the image of the poor who spends their daily living to earn. Perhaps O. Henry knows so well about this kind of life that his stories always convey the heartfelt sympathy with the characters. Besides his sympathy, he expresses his humor through every story so that his stories always contain unexpected climaxes, which lead to an amazing ending. Some of his celebrated stories are “the Ransom of Red Chief”, “The Cop and the Anthem”, “A retrieved Reformation”, “The Duplicity of Hargraves”, “The Caballero’s Way”, and especially “The Gift of the Magi”. People believed that this story

Both original version and modern version involve a young married couple and how they buy the secret Christmas gifts for each other with a little money. Although the modern version changes some details, it still conveys what O. Henry wants to transmit. Through laughter, author’s compassion was expressed. In spite of some differences, the two of them are classic examples of irony. Irony is a literary technique in which an expectation of what is supposed to occur differs greatly from the actual outcome. In gift of the magi, the two main characters sold their most valuable asset to earn money to buy something special for their lover. In their situation, they should not waste your money buying something that can’t be used; however, just because of love, they accept all. In the end, the special gifts that they carefully prepare are not what they receive, but something they can’t expect: they know how much they love it others. It can be seen that the themes of original version still unchanged. O. Henry focuses on three themes: wealthy and poverty, generosity and the most important – love. Of course, Ann Dandron-Duke is loyal to these

“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies” in original version, while modern version is “Seventy one dollars and eighty seven cents. That was all. And sixty dollars of it was in quarters.” Della has to consider every penny to buy food. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied” while in new version, Kimberly seems to have a better life since the author doesn’t mention food. It seems that social statuses of two main characters are improved. In new one, they have a better job with higher income. However, they are still poor. The original version was written in the early years of 20th century, while the new one was written in the late 20th century. In this period, the world should see dramatic change of society, especially the economy system, which lead to change in total money mentioned in new version to blend in with the social context at that time.

Besides, Ann Dandron –Duke alters the gifts in the modern version. The barbie and record player appear instead of the gold watch and hair; the #1 Barbie and record collection instead of the combs and a platinum fob chain. It can be seen that, the era, in which Ann Dandron-Duke lives, notice the improvement of living standard. People don’t just focus on earn to live, they