摘  要: 作为世界三大小说家之一，欧亨利与契诃夫和莫泊桑齐名。他的作品因奇巧的艺术构思，出其不意的结尾而著称。本文以欧亨利的三篇著名短篇小说为例，主要分析了“意料之外情理之内”的“欧亨利式结尾”的处理方法，包括营造出人意料但又符合情理的结尾效果的不同方法，以及这样的结尾方式如何能更深刻的表达人物的情感与小说的主旨。uneventful
关键词：艺术手法，人性，社会现实，欧亨利式结尾
Unexpected and reasonale ending
——A Brief Comment on O’ Henry’s Short Stories
Abstract: O. Henry, one of the three most famous short-story writers in the world, enjoys equal status with Chekhov and Maupassant. Exquisite plot, wry humor and twist ending dominate his works. Those surprising but logical endings are the most brilliant in all of the highlights. This thesis mainly analyses O. Henry’s surprising but logical endings of his famous works such as The Gift of the Magi , The Last Leaf an and The Cop and the Anthem.These O. Henry-style endings impress readers ,and at the same time ,help him expr
ess his ideas completely and vividly.So this thesis mainly analyses how O’ Henry set the plot to achieve the desired ending effect,and how the twist ending help idea-expression.
Key Words: artistic styles; humanity; social reality; O. Henry-style ending
Contents
1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………  1
2. Unique O-style ending method ………………………………………………… 2
2.1 Improbable coincidence……………………………………………………… 3
2.2 Sharp contrast……………………………………………………………………… 4
2.3 Repetition and change………………………………………………………… 6
3. Conclusion    ……………………………………………………………………………… 8
Bibliography    ……………………………………………………………………………… 9
1. Introduction
O. Henry, originally named William Sydney Porter, is a distinguished American storywriter. He wrote more than 300 short stories in his life. His stories are full of colorful characters. He creates an original, typically American democratic form of short stories with, at its best, a valuable critical awareness of life and society tellingly expressed through humor. Therefore, some critics call him “the founder of American stories”. Being gifted with humor and a keen awareness of details, he objectively shows us what America looks like. All his stories putting together constitute a true panorama of American life.
 
This thesis mainly emphasizes O. Henry’s unique twist ending. The ending of an article has long been considered as a conclusion or just a summary of the whole passage. However, O. Henry illustrates a new way, the so-called twist ending or sometimes the O. Henry’s ending. It means that at the end of an article the mental status or the fate of the character has changed greatly. But the whole passage is suddenly endowed with a great charm beca
use of the ending. The author has your nerves all a quiver until the last sentence. The surprise comes quickly and the story is finished. O. Henry is such a master of the unexpected ending that one must admire his skills.
2. Unique O-style ending method
O. Henry's trademark is the surprising ending that each of his stories contains. He sets a story moving in one direction, and just when the reader is convinced of the general direction of the narrative, the story will be completely reversed.This kind of ynexpected but reasonable ending which called O.Hernry’s ending may be a little sorrowful but it still gives the readers some hope,which is so-called “O.Henry’s humor(smile with tears)”. And if we look back to the total story, the ending seems logical and plausible. As a “plot-maker”, and designer of incident, he is an amazing genius. No one can do better than him to holds the reader in “suspense”. More than that, the reader scarcely knows that he is suspended until the very close of the story. Just as turns on the lights and the whole tale is revealed in its entirety. He uses this device of dramatic and humorous effect in the short story collection T
he Four Million which including  “The Gift of the Magi ”, and “The Cop and the Anthem”, “the Service of Love”, “The last Leaf.”
He often stresses on something important but not the most important in his works.The most important part always seems to write incidentally,which eben the most circunspective reader may ifnore it.When the stories end in a totally unexpected but reasonable way ,we can do nothing but cheer for O.Henry’s literary talent.
2.1  Improbable coincidence (The Gift of the Magi)                       
The novel “The Gift of the Magi” is about a young couple that is short of money but desperately wants to buy each other Christmas gifts. Unknown to Jim, Della sells her most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy platinum as the chain for Jim's watch; unknown to Della, Jim sells his most valuable possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair.
In the end ,both gifts became useless——short-haired Della got a comb and Jim got a chain for an already-sold watch.
  What a surprising coincidence! However, when we look back, we can find that O.Henry had already given us some suggestions.” Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair.” This description is related to how they got the money for gifts and what they bought for each other. The auther used a casual and vague tone deliberately so that few people would think over its meaning before seeing the ending. So the ending turns out to be unexpected but reasonable.
This coincidence is filled with complex emotions. People feel touched by the longlasting true love between the young couple and at the same time ,pity for them for their “unwise” gifts and their cruel bitter life. Though confronted with cruel reality and dull daily routine, Della and Jim can never change their eagerness toward love. To them the most valuable material possession is so slight and insignificant ,when compared with the spiritual possession of love romance.Perhaps the gifts were "unwise" as the author says, but, as he further writes, "let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest.”