II. A General Introduction to O Henry and Short Stories  

2.1 Social Background

The tales of O Henry’s short stories mostly happened in the time of his life, that is,  between the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century while the great changes took place in the United States.

In politics, the Civil War(1861-1865) overthrow the bloody slavery. President Lincoln proposed to the government should “be the people, by the people, and for the people”(Calkins 57), then the Congress passed the Amendment IV and Amendment V which  inspired the morale greatly. These policies make the people believe: the United States became a free, equal, democratic and civilized ideal state.