O Henry's Writing Style

Classical Authors

Writing classical literature, authors express their own distinct style. The special way each author writes makes classic literature, appealing. Classic stories will help broaden horizons and teach readers about society. Readers will usually reread classics and enjoy the story even more. The unique styles of the classical authors O. Henry, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck proves that classical literature is timeless.

O. Henry’s unique style is shown in his work. O. Henry writes with situational irony. Situational irony is where an author adds surprise endings or plot twists in his or her story. This is shown in the short story of “After Twenty Years.” In the story, a cop, Officer Wells, finds that after twenty years, his old

He writes with social commentary, which means that he makes fun of something in society by writing about it (CX). For example, in Chapter 4 of Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a young lad, Tom Sawyer does not want to go to church. During church, a lawyer visits, which caused all of the teachers and some students to exaggerate their roles in society. According to Tom, “...teachers found business up at the library by the pulpit... and frequently had to be done again two or three times.” Twain is using social commentary about how people like to ‘show off’ in front of important people. He makes fun of the people who try to act busy and attempt to show their ‘very important status’ in order to impress another person. Social commentary is used in classics because it allows authors to say their own opinion about society through their writing. Another unique style of Twain’s is sarcasm, also known as the use of irony. Also in Chapter 4 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Twain uses sarcasm. When the superintendent of the church saw a girl looking out the window, not listening to the speech he was saying, he said, “I am afraid she thinks I am out there somewhere-perhaps up in one of the trees making a speech to the little birds.” This shows sarcasm because the superintendent was very sarcastic about why the girl was looking out the window. Instead of telling the girl to pay attention, the superintendent decided to use sarcasm to tease the girl by suggesting that she thinks he is giving his speech in the trees. Sarcasm is timeless and is used in classics because it creates humor and laughter for the reader. Sarcasm makes the book or novel more interesting and it also causes the reader to like the book better (CD). Impacting the world, Mark Twain’s unique style made readers excited to read while also writing about his view of the world’s society