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Text Analysis. O Henry. “Mammon and the Archer”
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O. Henry is a pseudonym, the real name is William Sydney Porter. He has become a symbol to represent a recognizable species of short story writing. He wrote nearly three hundred stories. Most of O. Henry` s were translated into foreign languages. His stories are very American in language. O. Henry uses o lot of stylistic devices, such as: exaggeration, incongruous comparisons, malapropism, misquotations and inflated circumlocutions. O. Henry intentionally avoids sharp social problems. In his stories we find inhabitants of big cities and ranches, highway outlaws as well as self-made business tycoons come into wealth and power through freak of chance. And one of the most popular and famous story is “Mammon and the Archer” And I would like to analyse this story. As we see the title of this story is obscure, because in this title the author makes use of one of the most expressive tropes – a metaphor. Mammon is the God of riches and the symbol of wealth, The Archer is a symbol of love. So after this explanation we can say that this text will be about money and love. Of course at first we can think that this text will be about love and passion with happy end, without any intresting facts, but in reality it isn` t so. The theme of this story is an eternal opposition between money and love. The main idea of this story is wealth (money – old Athony) and love (young Richard). As we know everything in our life depends on freak of chance, but old Anthony thinks that money can decide all problems of his life. In the beginning we can see the problem of generation gap, the problem of wealth (money) and feelings (love). From one side we see Anthony and his wealth (his views about real feelings, about love) and from another side we see Richard and his feelings. Anthony thinks that money can do everything in our life, even buy love. But Richard has opposite opinion, so we can say: “Money never can buy love and happiness”. The plot develops surround people` s feelings. The action takes place in America, the 1st part of 20s century. We can find some facts of it in the text: “We drive down Broadway… He saw a congested flood of wagons, trucks, cabs, vans and street cars…” This story is about money and love. The main characters of this story are Old Anthony and his son Richard, the minor characters of this story are Aunt Ann, Miss Lantry and Kelly. The antagonist of this story is old Anthony, because he think that money rule the world and the opposite character (protagonist) is Richard, because he think that only love can save the world. Old Anthony is a wealth tycoon of Rockwell` s Eureka Soap. He is very fond and proud of his son Richard. Old Anthony is absolutely sure that money is omnipotent and he tries to convince his son that money can do everything. Richard fall in love with young lady, but he couldn` t say that he really loved her. He had only one chance to do it. Aunt Ann gave him a golden ring. They drove by car in the theatre, but the entire traffic of Manhattan seemed to have jammed itself around them. There were a lot of different cars. They were there so long that Richard proposed to Miss Lantry and she agreed. Next morning Aunt Ann came to Old Anthony and told him everything. She was very surprised. Aunt Ann thought that it was freak of chance. She went away. Than Kelly came to old Anthony. He said him everything. Kelly went to receive his pay for his work. He said that he overpaid and he wanted to return his money back. Old Anthony was very happy that everything was ok. He was glad that his son was happy. With great pleasure he gave that man his money. We can find both of conflicts in this text. External conflict is a conflict between father and son. Old Anthony thinks that money can do everything, but his son has opposite opinion. Internal conflict is a conflict of feelings and emotions of both heroes. In reality old Anthony love his son very much, that`s why he tries to help him, he can buy everything for the happiness of his son. Richard can`t understand his father, but he loves him too. The climax of this story we can find in the end, when we see dénouement of this story. In reality everybody from us thought that story ended when Aunt Ann came to Old Anthony and told him everything, but it wasn` t so. As for me it was shocked when I read the end of this story. Of course we can find many stylistic devices in this text. The title of this story is Metaphor. The author tries to show us a difference between money and love. In the end of this story we can find a paraphrase “a fat boy without any clothes on shooting arrows around with a bow” – the author says it with a part of irony. “Like a gray-haired angel that had been left on the earth by mistake” – simily + irony. The author uses this stylistic device in the description of Aunt Ann. He wants to show us her character, her feelings and emotions in this situation.
As for me I like it very much, because the end of this story is uncommon and it`s a big plus. I`d advise everybody to read this story.
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