The application of narrative codes in the short stories of O. Henry

Abstract

This study aims to analyze symbols, connotations, and cultures in two selected short stories The Caliph, Cupid, and the Clock, and Mammon and the Archer using five narrative codes. Those five narrative codes are; hermeneutic code, proairetic code, cultural code, connotative code, and symbolic code. This study applies qualitative research design to analyze the source of data. The result of this research shows that the five narrative codes appeared in these analyzed short stories of O. Henry. The hermeneutic codes are found in the titles of the short stories, and from fugitive expectations from the reader. The proairetic codes are found in five sequences of the plot; exposition, complication, climax, falling action, and resolution and flashback or flash forward structures. The cultural codes are found in the stereotypes regarding New York City cultures. The connotative codes are found through the characters of short stories, and the places mentioned in them. And the last, the symbolic codes are found in the binary opposition of whether time is powerful in the former story and whether money is a decisive object in the latter story.