O’ Henry Vs Oscar Wilde

Compare and contrast the style of O’ Henry’s writings and Oscar Wilde’s writings?

INTRODUCTION
Each great phase of civilization produces not only its particular arts but also its particular ways of looking at the arts. The Victorian Age is called a period of transition and experiments. Most writers, whatever their professions, write with something of the emphasis and authority of the schoolmaster addressing his pupils. In spite of this common feature, Victorian writers are very different in their styles. They were individualists, and each had his own personality, which was strongly presented in his style.

DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT
Raymond Chapman, the author of “A Short Way to Better English”, says that “A good style of writing has three qualities, which may be described as accuracy, ease and grace.” There are always three influences that will exert their pressure on a writer’s style. One is his own personality, his own way of thinking and feeling that determines his mode of expression. The second is the occasion on which he is writing, the particular purpose that directs his pen at the moment of writing, so that the same man may employ different styles on different occasions. The third is the influence of the age in which he lives. In other words, a writer’s style is his individual and creative choice of the resources of the language. Since style is something ingrained in writing, it follows that a man’s way of writing will be an expression of his personality and his way of looking at life. This explains the famous and much-quoted definition of style given by Buffon, a French writer and naturalist of the eighteenth century. He wrote: “Le style, c’est l’homme meme.” (“Style, it is the man himself.”)
O. Henry (1862-1910)
After Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe, William Sydney Porter is the most read author in the world and bears the title “master of the short story”. William Sydney Porter, also known as O’ Henry, is a prolific American short-story writer, a master of surprise endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. A twist of plot, which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance, is typical of O. Henry's stories.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Oscar Wilde’s rich and dramatic portrayals of the human condition came during the height of the Victorian Era that swept through London in the late 19th century. At a time when all citizens of Britain were finally able to embrace literature the wealthy and educated could only once afford, Wilde wrote many short stories, plays and poems that continue to inspire millions around the world. "The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it..." Just one of Oscar Wilde's endlessly entertaining and often hard-hitting quotations. He is a man who inspired - and continues to inspire - both admiration and argument. The roller-coaster story of his life is testimony to his eccentric genius.
O’ HENRY VS OSCAR WILDE
O’ Henry was an ex-convict but like Bret Harte he had a deep faith in the goodness of human soul. He wrote about the sophisticated people of the town. He told of their vices and their degenerating habits but also showed that they had the best in human nature which could be brought out under proper circumstances. He was never unsympathetic, except with those who sought to deprive others of their rights as human beings, and his writings have in them feelings of compassion for the weakness of man, which, joined with his remarkable ability of expression, make his stories at their best an influence for the furthering of those ideals which still tend to command the allegiance of civilized men. Where as, Oscar Wilde wrote Art for Art’s sake, as he rejected the Christian ideal of self-sacrifice in favor of joy, “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield it”. We can compare the literary style of O’ Henry with that of Oscar Wilde’s under the following points:
Themes
Usually, an authors theme can be stated in terms that resemble familiar sayings or proverbs. For example, “Love is the greatest gift of all”, “Beauty comes from within” etc. Both the writers mostly present the theme of Love and Sacrifice in their writings, e.g. at the end of the story, “The Gift of the Magi” O Henry seems to be saying two different things.
“And here I have told you the story of two children who were not wise. Each sold the most valuable thing he owned in order to buy a gift for the other. But let me speak a last word to the wise of these days: Of all who give gifts, these two were the most wise”.
Similarly Oscar Wilde tells us at the end of the story “The Happy Prince” when the Swallow dies, the Prince’s leaden heart breaks in two---.Both dead Swallow and the broken heart are thrown on the dust heap as they were no more beautiful and useful. But they are placed in the heaven by the Almighty. Both the writers present their themes in such a realistic way that the readers become spell bound.
Characters & Plot
O’ Henry’s characters include shop girls and millionaires, policemen and burglars, cowboys and tramps, confidence men and southern gentlemen, and other assorted types. On the other hand Oscar Wilde’s characters are from real world as well as some times form unreal i.e. fairies, witches and talking animals etc. That’s why some of his stories have fairy-tale mode of expression and are symbolic in nature.
Start & Ending
So far as the start of the stories is concerned O’ Henry is altogether different i.e. his stories often start in an abrupt way. For example, “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer...…………………” (The Gift of the Magi)
But the case with Oscar Wilde starts his stories in a proper way. For example,
1. One morning the old Water-rat put his head out of his hole. He had bright beady eyes and stiff grey whiskers and …………… (The Devoted Friend)
2. High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine ………(The Happy Prince)
The ending of O’ Henry’s stories is merely a surprise or contrary to expectation, it appears in a sort of a lateral way, as if popping out from around the corner; and it is only then that we, the readers, realize that certain details here and there had hinted the possibility of such an ending. But Oscar Wilde ends his stories in a proper way, e.g. “The Happy Prince and The Devoted Friend” both end properly but readers find this end a little bit touching and sad.
Didacticism
One outstanding characteristic of O. Henry's work of which criticis have taken little note is his use of the technique of 'after the thunder, the still, small voice.' This is the adding of a moral after the punch line or surprise ending. O Henry's stories are often didactic in this fashion. For Example in “The Gift of the Magi” the surprise ending comes when Jim reveals that he has sold his watch to buy Della her present; then O. Henry goes on to add that of all who give gifts, these are the wisest. (This added moral is a favorite device of his.) This didacticism is also very much present in the stories of Oscar Wilde.
Language
Each art has its own medium, i.e. its own material substance. Colours are the material substance of painting, sounds-the material substance of music. It is the language that is the material substance of literature. But language consists of colours and sounds due to the existence of expressive means and stylistic devices. Language is capable of transmitting practically any kind of information. It has names for all things, phenomena and relations of objective reality. It is so close to life that an illusion of their almost complete identity is created, for man lives, works and thinks in the medium of language. His behaviour finds an important means of expression primarily in language. O Henry adopts colloquial language for the diction but Oscar Wilde uses simple language in his writings. Light humor in the tone even describing serious issues, is also the specialty of both the writers. We can also note subjectivity in O’ Henry’s writing style but Oscar Wilde on the contrary often prefers objectivity.
Figures of Speech
One of the most frequently used, well-known and elaborated among the stylistic devices is metaphor. The metaphoric use of the word begins to affect the dictionary meaning, adding to it fresh connotations of meaning or shades of meaning. Oscar Wilde was a man of art; and his use of wonderful metaphors proves it. As we can see, his metaphors give a certain charm and musical perception through the plain language combinations. Besides the use of similes, alliteration, exaggeration, personification and references is also notable to some extent in the writings of both the writers.
Satire & Irony
Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own. The purpose of the satire is to reform. Irony in its simplest form is the deliberate use of words, which literally express a meaning opposite to that which the speaker really desires and intends to convey; as when for the purpose of ridicule, laudatory expressions are employed to indicate condemnation. O’ Henry has not used satire or irony in his writings but Oscar Wilde has made frequent use of these devices. For example, in “The Happy Prince” he satirizes politicians, aristocrats and people who prefer outer beauty to the inner beauty or the beauty of soul and character.
CONCLUSION
The pith and marrow of above said is that being cotemporaries to each other O’ Henry and Oscar Wilde have great similarities in their literary style. Their pervasive tendency to lay bare the construction of the story and subject the plot and the ending acquire a special meaning in their above mentioned stories. They are still considered literary classics and are still read worldwide.