“Irony is a disciplinarian feared only by those who do not know it, but cherished by those who do”, Soren Kierkegaard knew what he was talking about when he said these famous words. “The Gift of the Magi”, written by William Sidney Porter, often known by his pen name O. Henry. It is a short story depicting literary elements of irony, romance, and Porter's sense of twist endings, and is all about a poor couples Christmas. Because of the end results of Della and Jim's sense of self sacrifice, “The Gift of the Magi” displays almost a word for word example of what irony is defined as.…
In the story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry the two main characters are a husband and wife who give up their most precious possessions to be able to afford gifts for each other on Christmas Eve. The story follows the wife Della throughout the day as she tries to find a way to get money so she can buy her husband Jim a Christmas gift. Throughout the story there are a lot of themes that are shown through Della and Jim’s actions. The three most important themes found in this story are sacrifice, love and pride. Sacrifice, love and pride are all shown by Jim and Della throughout the story as they both try to find a way to get money for each other’s gift and as they sell their prized possession.…
The stories of “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant and “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Connor are different from one another at first glance, however when analyzing deeper into the context, there are obvious similarities that can be recognized. The main characters from both of these stories are identified as Mathilde from “The Necklace” and the grandmother from “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” with both of these characters being comparable on the aspects of their character flaw, encountering of tragedy, and undergoing of character change.…
A short story illustrates the effectiveness of the plot, particularly one that has a surprise ending such as, “The Gift of the Magi”. In this story of Jim and Della, they are approaching Christmas and have very little money to spend on one another. They each want to surprise the other one with a marvelous gift for Christmas but they have little money and Della only has $1.87. Della ends up cutting her hair for the money while Jim sells his cherished watch. Through selfless acts done for love, they each end up giving one another a Christmas gift they will always remember and cherish. It didn’t matter to either of them what they had to do in order to provide the gift. The theme was portrayed by the literary elements within the story. Plot, point of view and symbolism are just a few of the literary elements which helped developed the theme of the story.…
In each story, the setting, including the mood created by the setting, plays an important role in the actions and the development of the characters. In “The Gift of the Magi,” because of their extreme poverty, Della and Jim must sacrifice their most prized possessions in order to buy a present for each other. In “The Necklace” M. Loisel and Mme. Loisel are forced to live in extreme debt for ten years because of a lost necklace. Both stories involve women who are faced with poverty, but the women confront their poverty in a different manner. Your task is to analyze this difference.…
In the short story, “The Gift of the Magi”, O. Henry uses literary devices to show us that love and sacrifice are powerful human emotions, that cannot be outstripped by material possessions. In the story, the author uses many quotes to express symbolism to help reiterate the theme, one of the quotes is, “of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the wisest. Everywhere they are the wisest. They are the Magi” (O Henry 185-186). This quote applies to the theme, because it helps to relate their decision (to sacrifice and give) as the wisest people, as it shows that their selfless and that they’re merrily sacrificing possessions they are fond of for each other, whom they love. The author uses many literary devices to emphasise the theme,…
“The Gift of the Magi” is centered on two main characters Jim and Della. It is a Christmas themed story in which a poor couple find themselves in a difficult situation when looking to buy presents for each other, when they find out them both have no money. Jim’s pride and joy is a golden watch and Della’s most prized possession is her hair. But when they both go to buy presents for each other they both sell their most prized possessions to buy gifts. When they show each other there presents they are shocked to find Della bought a chain for Jims watch, and Jim bought combs for Della’s hair!…
The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry. A story, about sacrificing what you love for someone you love. The first paragraph will be about the sacrifices that they have done for one another. The Second will about a creditable love between a Man and Woman, that cannot be separated. The third paragraph is thoughts. Mr. James and his wife Della Dillingham Young, have a love between each other. They can’t stop having thoughts for one another.…
O. Henry’s, “The Gift of the Magi”, follows a young poor couple that give up their greatest belongings in order to buy something special for each other. However, they can not make use of their gifts, because what they gave up, relates to their possessions they gave up. In Sherman Alexie’s “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, the protagonist Victor travels with his childhood friend Thomas to Phoenix to get the remains of his dead father. Thomas tells him the story of Victors dad telling him to “Take care of each other” (156).…
The twists and turns of the plot as it unfolds within O. Henry 's “The Gift of the Magi” are what simply captivate the reader in such a short amount of pages. The story of Jim and Della on a cold Christmas Eve at the turn of 20th century America is centered around what is remarkably relevant to what many readers have experienced in their own lives; the inevitable stresses, sacrifices, and joys of the holiday season.…
and then soon come to find out that their gifts were useless. At the end they see that their actions weren’t worth it and could’ve been avoided. The theme that these stories share is that love will force you to do things that you do not intend to do. One reason this is the theme of “The Necklace” is because Madame Loisel is angered at not having any jewelry to wear to the party.…
In the verses of Matthew 6: 19 - 21 and Matthew 22: 37 - 39, the Bible proclaims how we should live our lives. The actions of the main character in "Gift of the Magi" clearly exemplifies these verses. However, the actions and deeds of the main character in "The Necklace" are and example of how not to live. In "The Gift of the Magi," Della serves as a role model for the Principles of Matthew, however, in "The Necklace," Mathilda is only concerned with her own selfish needs, therefore contradicting the Bible.…
“We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet,” (Stephen Hawkings). Greed has many consequences in our life and can affect more than just ourselves. Greed is in our innermost beings from the day we are born, ‘till the day we die. We force ourselves to give up those selfish ambitions with no avail. We fall into the traps of materialistic items and lose sight of the things that are essential to us. It's the unexpected aftermath that brings us to our knees to weep.…
Sacrifice is different for every person. In the gift of the magi by O. Henry, he shows two people who love each other so much that they will sacrifice their favorite things for the other. The gift of the magi is about two people; Della and Jim. It is Christmas Eve and Della wants to give her husband Jim a nice gift but all she has is $1.87. She ends up giving up her prized possession (her hair) to get a chain for his watch, and her husband sold his watch (his prized possession) to get combs for her hair. They end up with a gift that they can’t use. In the story, O. Henry display a character, Della, who is affectionate, devoted, and selfless.…
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry and the Sesame Street version are about friends sacrificing their valuable possession in order to make their friends happy. To understand both versions of the story you must take a closer look at the key of friendship. A discussion of comparing and contrasting must include two different versions but the same meaning. An examination of the to version will reveal what is similar in the two version and what sets them apart from each other. The impact of friendship and unselfishness can be seen in both versions of the story.…