The Gift of the Magi
Journal 1 – The Gift of the Magi By: Mariyam Meefau Rasheed Student ID: 004T5414
This is a story about a married couple set in the Christmas time in the early 20th century. The story talks about foolish and impulsive sacrifices made by a young couple with a very little amount of money. They make these sacrifices to buy Christmas presents for each another.
The Young couple, Jim and Della, were very poor. The author does not give much insight on their past, but describes them just enough to know that they have fallen on hard times. Their lives were very bland and uneventful, but they loved each other very much. At the beginning of the story, Della was counting the money she had, which was only one dollar and eighty cents. Since these were the first words of the story, it is easy to understand that main problem of the story has to do with the lack of money. The author describes that Della was able to save this much by bargaining while shopping for food. The poor condition of the house can also be easily imagined by the description of the couch and the condition of the letter-box, electric button and faded letters on the card. It has also been mentioned that the couple used to earn more before but the income became less by $10, which led them to desperate times. Even everything outside the house was bland; the grey cat, on the grey fence, in a grey background. It was when Della was looking at the grey surrounding, she glimpsed her reflection in the narrow mirror placed between the windows and got an excellent idea to solve her problem.
The author describes that even though the Young family is poor, they had two very valuable possessions which they were very proud of. One was Jim’s golden watch which was passed on from his grandfather, to his father and then to him. The other one was Della’s long brown hair. How much they valued it can be clearly understood when the author states that Della believes that her hair could depreciate the jewels of Queen of Sheba if
This is a story about a married couple set in the Christmas time in the early 20th century. The story talks about foolish and impulsive sacrifices made by a young couple with a very little amount of money. They make these sacrifices to buy Christmas presents for each another.
The Young couple, Jim and Della, were very poor. The author does not give much insight on their past, but describes them just enough to know that they have fallen on hard times. Their lives were very bland and uneventful, but they loved each other very much. At the beginning of the story, Della was counting the money she had, which was only one dollar and eighty cents. Since these were the first words of the story, it is easy to understand that main problem of the story has to do with the lack of money. The author describes that Della was able to save this much by bargaining while shopping for food. The poor condition of the house can also be easily imagined by the description of the couch and the condition of the letter-box, electric button and faded letters on the card. It has also been mentioned that the couple used to earn more before but the income became less by $10, which led them to desperate times. Even everything outside the house was bland; the grey cat, on the grey fence, in a grey background. It was when Della was looking at the grey surrounding, she glimpsed her reflection in the narrow mirror placed between the windows and got an excellent idea to solve her problem.
The author describes that even though the Young family is poor, they had two very valuable possessions which they were very proud of. One was Jim’s golden watch which was passed on from his grandfather, to his father and then to him. The other one was Della’s long brown hair. How much they valued it can be clearly understood when the author states that Della believes that her hair could depreciate the jewels of Queen of Sheba if