The Gift Of Magi Theme

The Gift Of Magi Theme - The Gift of the Magi' is a short story written by the American short story writer O. Henry, whose real name is William Sydney Porter (1862-1910). His stories are known for their humor, idioms, occasional sentiments, and unexpected endings. All these elements have become signature elements, and 'The Gift of the Magi' includes both to a certain extent.

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The Gift Of Magi Theme

But what is the meaning of this Christmas story? You can read 'The Gift of the Magi' here before we continue with the summary and analysis of O's story. Henry below. We discuss some important themes of the 'Gift of the Magi' in a separate article.

It's Christmas day. Jim and Della are married, living in a small apartment in New York. They have little money. The story begins with Della upset because she only got one dollar and eighty-seven cents for her husband's Christmas present. The narrator tells us that a man and a woman have things they are proud of.

For Jim, it was a gold watch that belonged to his father and, before that, his grandfather. Della's asset is her beautiful hair. Della goes to a woman who sells hair products. The woman agrees to buy Della's hair for $20. With this new money, Della went to buy a platinum chain for Jim's gold watch.

Discussion Questions

Twenty-one dollars were spent, leaving only eighty-seven cents in the world. When she gets home, she curls her hair to make it look good. When Jim arrives home, he is surprised by his wife's reaction, but when Jim explains why he cut her hair, he hugs her and gives her the gift he bought her: the combs with jackfruit that she has always admired.

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window. . The combs won't help until his hair grows back, but he can give Jim a gift... But in the final round, Jim tells Della that he sold his gold watch to pay for the expensive combs. So now, he has two combs but no usable hair, and he has a platinum fob chain for a gold watch that he no longer has.

Many of O's short stories. Henry - most of which are only five or six pages long - are characterized by their twists and turns, and 'The Gift of the Magi' is a good example of this - this is a common feature in his work.

In their quest to buy the Christmas present of their dreams, young Jim and Della end up leaving behind items that should have matched their gifts: Della's hair comb (sold), and Jim's clockwork (sold). As the author says in the last verse: The wise men, as you know, were wise men - very wise men - who brought gifts to the Child in the manger.

Plot Summary

They created the art of Christmas gift giving. As he was wise, there is no doubt that their gift was wise, and he probably had the privilege of exchanging it for a copy. And this is where I told you the story of two crazy children in a hut who unwisely sacrificed a great deal of wealth in their home for each other.

O. Henry does not invite us to laugh at their stupidity, but to celebrate their sacrifice. It was not stupidity that motivated them, but wisdom, as the writer writes in the last words of the story: But in the last words for the wise in this day, let it be said that then of all those who give gifts, these two are the wisest.

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To all who give and receive gifts, like the wise. Everywhere they are the wisest. They are magicians. So, on the one hand, there are two unexpected twists at the end of 'The Gift of the Magi': a symbolic twist that characterizes many of O's short stories.

Henry, and A narrative 'twist' reverses our initial response. - which is an unpleasant parody of the events just mentioned - and suggests that Jim and Della were clever, even if they end up receiving a 'useless' gift from each other. This is all well and good, but it is important to note that the narrator does not explain why he believes that Jim and Della are the 'smartest' of all the gift givers.

#34;The Gift Of The Magi": Setting

Of course, the 'wise' here suggest the Magi, the Zoroastrian astrologers who, in the Gospel of Matthew, visited the baby Jesus and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh: that is the subject of the story. But what makes Jim and Della so smart?

And why doesn't O. Henry tell us? Was it because he wanted us to decide for ourselves, or did he think the answer was obvious? The latter seems to be more. Because it's definitely the 'custom' of 'Gift of the Magi', given the Christmas setting and the fact that Jim and Della love each other well and get along well despite not having the money to buy nice things though.

in life, that love. more important than things. And when it comes to Christmas and buying gifts for our loved ones, that's an important consideration. But there is less to the 'Gift of the Wise' than this old proverb, which can reduce the story to a fairy tale of compassion, with two parts about 'giving is better than receiving' and 'love is more important than money.

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. Both of these meanings are important to the story, but the most important is the self-sacrificing element of the couple, and their approach to learning the meaning. So Jim is happy to part with a gold watch that has been passed down through the male line for three generations, while Della is happy to lose her hair (which, despite her protests, takes months to grow completely) to buy.

#34;The Gift Of The Magi": Setting

a gift that man needs. But with a twist of the story, they find that their sacrifice was in vain - because of their love for one another. But they were happy because of this, not because of the act of buying a gift, but because of the great cost it caused others.

Love, O. Henry, seems to mean giving up the most important thing to you in order to show the person you love - the one you should love the most - the sacrifice you made. In other words, what is remarkable about the 'Gift of the Magi' is that its approach does not seem like 'giving is better than receiving' but 'giving and losing is important', because what he gets is not.

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Emily Rogers has been teaching information analysis and research skills as a school librarian for over seven years. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and French from Sewanee: The University of the South and a master's degree in library and information science from Louisiana State University.

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