The White Lies：the Beauty of Humanity in O.Henry’s Short Stories

余思璟

Abstract：In O.Henrys short stories，praising the beauty of humanity is one of the most important themes and the typical plot white lie serves the theme well.By means of textual analysis，this paper illustrates that the white lies in O.Henrys short stories embody the beauty of humanity through the examples of “A Service of Love” and “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentleman”，where the characters merits of sacrifice，love，keeping faith，and sticking to faith are highlighted.

Key Words：O.Henrys short stories；white lies；the beauty of humanity

"White lie is a kind of lie whose teller is motivated by altruism，love，or kindness when the lie has to be said in a particular situation."（羊，43-44）"In order not to ruin the tellers' reasonable hopes，for example，considering others，protecting others' emotion from being hurt，and keeping others' psychology sound and pleased，the lies begin work.The white lie is an expression of humanistic spirit."（安，20-22）As a result，the white lies are related to the tellers' inner world，indicating some beauty of humanity.

The white lies in "A Service of Love" indicate the characters' spirits of sacrifice and true love.A young couple in New York，because of poverty，they cannot pursue their own loving art.In order to earn money to help each other achieve his or her artistic career，the wife says that she is teaching a general's daughter music and the husband talks about his sketching in a park.The couple is delighted by the decent job each other has，but accidentally they find both of them are doing hard work in the same laundry.In this short story，the wife and the husband make up two white lies，which infuse fun，pleasure，happiness，and comforts into their tough lives.

Just as Shakespeare believed，the white lies in life can make it colorful.The white lie is merely the external manifestation of their unwillingness to let each other worry about him or her，but what lay behind it are the couple's sacrifice and true love for each other.O.Henry composes such a plot of white lies and does not disclose the fact until the end.In this way，the theme underneath lies has been revealed powerfully.The characters' self-sacrifice is greater and their pure love is more touching，especially in so hard and hopeless an environment.We can see the white lie is the positive way of life of the poor couple who are living at the bottom of society.Although in such a circumstance，they can still persevere with their love through a wonderful trick，telling kind lies，seemingly a helpless option，actually an ultimate beauty of humanity.

The kind lies in “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentleman" manifest people's keeping faith and sticking to faith.The tramp Peter has been receiving the treats by an old gentleman for nine Thanksgiving Days.On Thanksgiving Day this year，although Peter is full after treated by two warm-hearted ladies，he still accepts the entertainment of the old gentleman，gobbling down all the food.Finally，Peter is sent to the hospital for satiety，and the old gentleman fainted for hunger.Actually，the gentleman has not eaten anything for three days because he has been down and out.

In this story，the two characters keep an appointment at any cost，even their lives.Though their objective conditions do not permit，they are disinclined to break the promise with each other，so they fabricate white lies，which are reflected in actual actions but not in words.As for the old gentleman，he cannot afford food and has been starved nearly to death，but he still comes at the appointed time.Accordingly，Peter is full and cannot eat anything more，whereas he keeps faith with the old gentleman，not letting him down.Besides，both the old gentleman and Peter adhere to a common conviction，insisting on finishing a benevolence on every Thanksgiving day.The old gentleman builds and maintains this belief，and Peter plays the role of a cornerstone in persisting with it.All of these are demonstrated in their white lies，which help them stick to their faith.Probably O.Henry creates the white lies in a humorous，exaggerated even ridiculous way，but through it，the commendable humanity，keeping faith and sticking to faith are emphasized.

From the two short stories，we know what is really beautiful is not the white lie itself，but the humanity it implies.The writer arranges his short stories with painstaking attention to the plots of white lies，and then skillfully connects them with the themes of praising the beauty of humanity.The white lies always happen unexpectedly，so the implication of the beauty of humanity impresses the readers a lot.It marks O.Henry short stories as masterpieces with profound thoughts and superb artistic technique.

References

[1]安凱莉.《密送年輕人48封雞毛信》.北京：西苑出版社，2005.

[2]羊芙葳.《謊言的識別》.北京：商務印書館，2012.

[3]趙莉、黃春妮.《歐·亨利作品導讀》.武漢：武漢大學出版社，2003.

（作者單位：云南大學外國語學院）