Comparing O. Henry, Mark Twain, And John Steinbeck

Classic authors are authors who have put timeless themes into their writing, and have taught people many lessons through their writing. O. Henry, Mark Twain, and John Steinbeck are just a few classic authors who have taught lessons, used timeless themes, and their own unique styles in their writings. O. Henry’s unique style is shown in his work. O. Henry writes with situational irony, which is also called a plot twist or a surprise ending. O. Henry’s style is shown in his work when he writes. For example, his short story, The Gift of the Magi, it is Christmas time, and Della and Jim both sold their possessions that the other was going to buy gifts for. So, for Jim, the thing Della sold was her hair. Selling her hair, Della was going to …show more content…
He often used poverty and it was a huge struggle for poor people and this was shown in the novella “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck. Before the pearl was found, life was difficult and poverty struck hard. After the pearl was found everyone was happy about it, but then Kino was scared that everyone would try to steal the pearl away from him and his family.”And Juana, sitting by the fire hole, watched him with questioning eyes, and when he had buried his pearl she asked ”Who do you fear?””(36) This passage is important because it shows when people are poor but become rich, they are paranoid of failure. This shows that wealth is evil and can make people crazy. Another unique style of John Steinbeck is symbolism.Using symbolism to enlarge the topic of social issues, Steinbeck helps the reader learn that the littlest things can represent the biggest ideas.(SPP)For example, in chapter 2, when Kino dives down in the ocean to find a big oyster, he finds the biggest one of all. He needed the oyster for his poisoned son, and the doctors would not help if he would not be paid.(CD)Then when he cuts the oyster open, he looks inside and finds the greatest pearl of the world. “It was the greatest pearl in the world...In the surface of the pearl he could see dreams form. He picked the pearl from the dying flesh held it in his palm, and he turned it over and saw that its curve was perfect.”This passage shows that the pearl cleared Kino’s worries, which gave him a large spark of hope.(CX)This is important because it shows that even in hard times god or gods may be on your side. Ultimately the reader learns from both passages that life is hard but luck can help with wealthiness, but it may be a curse if it is exposed to the wrong people. This novella has a timeless message of wealth being a curse because in the novella, a man almost dies to a person with one goal, to steal his