Symbolism In The Gift Of Magi
Symbolism In The Gift Of Magi - The Gift of the Magi" is a short story written by William Sidney Porter - otherwise known as "O. Henry". In this beautiful story, a young couple doesn't have much money to buy each other Christmas presents, so they have to get creative - and make a lot of sacrifices.
Source: s2.studylib.net
Symbolism In The Gift Of Magi
A man sells his grandfather's gold watch to buy fame for his wife's beautiful hair. Women shave their hair and sell it to make wigs. She buys a watch chain for her husband with the money. A gold watch can represent many things: love, purity, money (the lost couple), and eternity (gold does not rot or tarnish).
Some commentators believe that because it is a Christmas story, the gold in this story is a symbol of a deity, such as Jesus or God himself. A clock in a story can represent time, the future (what the couple hopes to spend), the end of the year, or eternity.
It can represent a couple's transition from starry-eyed youth to mature and giving adults. The hair of the young woman in the story can represent many things: youth (young women often wear long hair), health, and sexuality. By letting go of her hair, the woman in the story somehow agreed to give her husband youth, sex, and "the best years of his life".
Stack Exchange Network
Since adornment is an intimate act, earrings can also be a symbol of sexual attraction between a man and a woman. A watch chain, like earrings, is a symbol of a woman's love for her man. She is emotionally attached to her hair as she is.
Source: i.ytimg.com
for her watch. Yet she willingly agreed to buy the one thing she thought would bring her husband happiness. The chain could also represent their marriage, the institution that provides "unity" between two people. Since the story takes place during Christmas, we could say that this episode represents the original Magi, who were wise.
they visited the baby Jesus. Reports differ as to whether they were actually there when he was born or arrived later. Regardless, sources generally agree that they carried gold, frankincense, and myrrh - valuables in the ancient world. A professional writer for LexisNexis since 2008, Ilana Waters has created pages for websites such as ComLawOne.com and AndersonHome.com.
A writing scholarship helped him graduate from Rutgers University with a degree in sociology. She later received her Masters of Social Work from Monmouth University. The title of the story "The Gift of the Magi" is a biblical allegory about the three wise men or Magi who were there when the baby Jesus was born so that they could give the baby gifts of gold, frankincense and incense.
Your Password Reset Email Should Arrive Shortly.
Jesus. . Although the gifts were simple in nature, they had a spiritual rather than a physical meaning. The golden gift symbolizes earthly kingdom, the bronze symbolizes godliness and the myrrh symbolizes death. We find a description of the symbolic gift that Jim Young and Della Young gave at the end of the continuing story.
As the story begins, we can clearly see that the couple (Jim and Della Young) are living in poverty because O. Henry provides enough evidence to prove it. The similes of "a mailbox too small to hold a letter", "an electric bell, but no sound" clearly show that young Jim and Della live in poverty.
Source: filipnest.com
Although they live in poverty, their love for each other is deep. Della Young has to buy Jim Young a present for Christmas, but she only has one dollar and eighty-seven coins, so she's in a lot of pain, which is evident in the line "She stood at the window looking out for nothing."
He made a sign of looking at their miserable life without hope and enthusiasm. But when he sees himself in the mirror with long hair, his face changes quickly. "Her hair was more beautiful than the queen's jewelry and gifts," O. Henry explained, "shining like a stream of dark water."
Something Went Wrong
Hair is also a symbol of her beauty and femininity. Her hair, as precious to her as Jim, she decided to cut it and sell it to buy Jim the best gift possible. He went to the store and sold the hair for twenty dollars.
Buying a nice gift for Jim Young, he wanders from store to store and falls on a gold chain for Jim's watch, which is simple and easy "as everything is valuable." "Quality and value - both Jim and the chain had integrity and value". Here, Jim's watch is a symbol of progress and development as expensive watches are a symbol of progress and development, passed down from generation to generation as objects of value and pleasure to wear and own, just like Jim's watch.
Della is just afraid that Jim won't like her with short hair. But on the other hand, Jim sold his gold watch to buy Della a long, beautiful, beautiful haircut. Both of them sold their best possessions (hair and watches) to have a nice gift for each other.
Source: sp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com
it represents the sacrifice of each character to give the greatest possible gift of happiness. But as expected for O. Henry it ended unexpectedly as both the gifts they received were in vain as Della sold her hair Jim bought her a necklace and Jim sold his watch Della gave him a gold chain.
Cite This Page As Follows:
As for the theme of the story, the gifts they both gave seemed like nothing, but the love they showed was worth what they needed. It is a story written with a plot related to Christmas and the title of the story is a book of the Bible.
O. Henry fills the Christmas spirit with a brand of joy. It doesn't matter if the gift is sufficient in value, but the happiness or value associated with the gift is what matters. Our experts will write to you on any topic, with deadlines and requirements from scratch.
February 26, 2021). Retrieved from https://samploon.com/gift-of-the-magi-symbolism-what-does-the-magi-mean/ Storytelling Techniques in Short Stories Essays on the Chain and the Gift of the Magi An Explanation of the Gift of the Magi by O Henry The Gift of the Magi compared to Ambrose Bierce's short stories. All examples are added by students.
You can use the sample templates to get your ideas and thoughts. © Samplon, Inc. 2023. Start and finish your text easily Want to get a custom text? What about receiving custom orders? Class champion. "Handbook of Gifted Learning." Class champion. 3 Oct. 2017. Web.
gifts of the magi meaning, the gift of the magi comprehension questions, gift of the magi printable, the gift of the magi answer key, gift of magi reading quiz, gift of the magi worksheets, gift of the magi questions and answers, what does della's hair symbolize