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Why would us knowing the name of the city make it more intense and exciting to read this excellent short story? Surely the point of the story has nothing to do with the location of the city, but it does certainly have something to do with other important themes such as love and poverty. That should be what sustains our interest. In a sense, keeping the city nameless makes it more universal.
Many people would wonder why Oscar Wilde, a famous English writer, did not even put the name to the city of his novel, “The Happy Prince”.
During the nineteenth century, a big gap between the rich and the poor was considered as a serious issue of the society. Living in that period of time, the author saw the unfairness of life via many ironic situation with his own eyes. Thefore, he wrote “The Happy Prince”. Moreover, Wilde illustrated the role played by money in society which made people forget about feelings and good actions, for intances: "The living always think that gold can make them happy". It seemed the author criticized high class people. He did not tell any particular city’s name because the city in the story was represented for any cities, any places where still happend class distinction at that time.
From there, the author showed his desire of clearing the great distance of the rich and the poor for a better and happier future in the society. His attitude of “Art for art’s sake” expressed effectively throughout the story.
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