The Gift Of The Magi Summary In 150 Words
The Gift Of The Magi Summary In 150 Words - Last updated May 11, 2015 by ENotes Editor. Word Count: 273 O. Henry's wit and imagination trumps every journalistic trend he's carried over to fiction. His penchant for dramatic irony, a hallmark of many of his short stories, gives his style its distinct flavor. Gentle and humble, his writing is imbued with that marketable quality known as "human interest."
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The Gift Of The Magi Summary In 150 Words
This quality is best exemplified in his pursuit of sincerity: his desire to write about real people in real situations. Della and Jim are products of an over-emotional imagination. The author tries to create situations as well as physical environments that are true to life.
Both main characters accept life as they see it without succumbing to negative feelings of hopelessness or despair. Della's only moment of doubt still revolves around her husband's well-being, as she seeks divine intervention to keep him beautiful in Jim's eyes. Jim hides his fear of Della's disappointment with almost effective indifference when he asks her if they should just throw away their Christmas presents and leave them for the indefinite future.
Only then does he reveal that he has sacrificed his treasure to secure Della's request. His belief that they will both use these things in the future gives the unspoken idea that life is sure to get better for them. The main characters do not react to each other because of holiness, duty or self-sacrificing love: they simply embody the twin spirits of love and Christmas.
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For the less religious O. Henry, these natures are one and the same. The author points out that emotion need not be sacrificed for the sake of realism. "The Gift of the Magi - Style and Technique" The Comprehensive Guide to Short Stories, Critical Edition Ed.
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Charles E. May. eNotes.com, Inc. 2004 eNotes.com 29 April 2023
He never cared for the upper classes, but preferred to kill his characters and his sympathies than to look at ordinary people in the streets and shops and cafes. This view of the world around him is very visible in "The Gift of the Magi", where he combines elements of love and care with those of poverty and sacrifice to convey his quasi-religious message.
The intense devotion of the young couple becomes almost incongruous when contrasted with the sadness and pollution of their material surroundings. Each of them comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to survive Christmas without fulfilling the other's greatest wish. It's not "selfish greatness"—a desire for the pleasure of giving—that motivates them.
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They truly embrace the noble sense of self-restraint. Despite the specter of poverty, the story is thus animated by an unspoken hope for the future. (This is a variation on the old theme that love overcomes all, especially material failures.) By setting the story at Christmas time, the author shows that simple and selfless human love is the basis of such hope for humanity.
The Gift of the Magi - Theme and Meaning" The Comprehensive Guide to Short Stories, Critical Edition Ed. Charles E. May. eNotes.com, Inc. 2004 eNotes.com 29 April 2023
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The article above will cover 2 or 3 dates. Last updated on 13 August 2020 by ENotes Editor. Number of words: 173 *New York. Busy city where young people rent a second floor apartment for eight dollars a month. It is furnished, but with obviously used and old furniture.
O. Henry skillfully describes the dilapidation of the rented rooms and the building it's in, noting details like the non-functional mail slot in the lobby and the broken doorbell. In the apartment itself, he points to the scratched carpet and sofa and the nearly useless mirror that Della has to make for herself.
New York City
It is important that the narrator describes the unfavorable conditions in which the couple in love live. The lack of elegance or pride in their immediate surroundings needs to be emphasized in order for the reader to understand why it is so important for each character to give the other a wonderful Christmas present.
Surroundings so shabby both Jim and Della yearn for a gift of beauty and significant value to any owner. But what each of them sacrifices to please the other makes the gift of the other useless. A Critical Guide to Setting and Places in Literature "The Gift of the Magi - Places Discussed" R. Kent Rasmussen.
eNotes.com, Inc. 2003 eNotes.com 29 April 2023
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Della sells her hair so that Jim can buy a chain for his watch, which he sells in exchange for a beautiful set of her hair. Although these gifts are now useless, Jim and Della have given each other the greatest gift of all, which the narrator compares to the gifts the Wise Men, or Magi, gave to the Christ child: self-sacrificing love.
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O. Henry uses several techniques, or literary devices, in "The Gift of the Magi" that are present in most of his short stories. The first of these is a narrator with personality and presence. Although the story focuses on Della's point of view—the reader primarily sees what Della sees—the story is told in a different narrator's voice that speaks directly to the reader as "you."
heard, but never seen, engages the reader as a friend and shares his understanding of the situation of the youth. The narrator tells the story in a humorous, friendly manner, with a few funny lines aimed at the reader. He uses catchphrases like "he took a big pride" and punctuates his story with funny phrases like "forget that hash metaphor."
Another writer who often uses this technique, sometimes called authorial intervention, is Charles Dickens. Although "The Gift of the Magi" is a famous story, O. Henry is best known for the type of story he wrote, not for the individual pieces. All stories follow certain patterns of characters, plots, structures, and settings.
The settings of O. Henry's stories are generally grouped into five categories: the American South, the West, Central America, the prison, and New York. "The Gift of the Magi" is a New York story. Although almost half of his stories are set in New York.
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