Theme Of Gift Of Magi
Theme Of Gift Of Magi - Maggie's Gift' is a short story by American short story writer and Henry, whose real name is William Sidney Porter (1862-1910). His stories are characterized by their humorous, witty narrative style, sometimes sentimental and surprising. All these things have become iconic, and "Maggi's Gift" captures them to some extent.
Theme Of Gift Of Magi
But what does this Christmas story mean? You can read "Magi's Gift" here before proceeding to the summary and analysis of O. Henry's story below. We discuss some key themes of "Maggi's Gift" in a separate post. It's Christmas Eve. Jim and Della are a married couple living in a modern apartment in New York.
They have little money. The story begins with Della being upset because she only has one dollar and seven cents to spend on a Christmas present for her husband. The narrator tells us that every married couple has wealth that they are proud of. For Jim, it is a gold watch that belonged to his father and before that his grandfather.
Della's prized possession is her beautiful hair. Della goes to see a woman who sells hair products. The woman agrees to buy Della's hair for twenty dollars. With the newfound money, Della buys a platinum chain for Jim's gold watch. It cost her eleven dollars, leaving her only seven cents worldwide.
The True Meaning Of Christmas: The Gift Of The Magi
When she gets home, she starts filming her hair to make it look presentable. When Jim returns home, he is surprised by his wife's actions, but when she explains why she is cutting her hair, he hugs her and gives her a gift he bought her: two tentacles.
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The bracelets he had long admired in the shop window. . The comb is of no use to her until her hair grows back, but at least she can give Jim her present... But in the final round, Jim tells Della that he is selling the gold watch to buy his precious
He paid for the combs he bought. . So now she has two combs but no hair to use and she has a platinum chain for a gold watch she no longer owns. Many of O'Henry's short stories—many of which are only five or six pages long—feature an iron twist, and "The Gift of Maggie" is a good example of this characteristic of his work.
In their efforts to buy each other their dream Christmas gifts, young Jim and Della sacrifice items that complement their gifts: a comb for Della's (sold) hair and a watch for Jim (sold). the chain As the narrator notes in the last paragraph: The Magi, you know, were wise men—incredibly wise men—who brought gifts to the Child in Gray.
The True Meaning Of Christmas: The Gift Of The Magi
They invented the art of Christmas gift giving. As for intelligence, their gifts were undoubtedly intelligence, perhaps with the privilege of exchange if copied. And here I am gently narrating to you a tragic story of two idiot children in an apartment who unknowingly sacrificed the greatest treasures of their home for each other.
But Mr. Henry does not invite us to laugh at their follies, but to celebrate their sacrifice. Indeed, what motivated them was not folly, but wisdom, as the narrator notes at the end of the story: But in a final word to the wise of these days, let us say that of all those
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From those who give gifts, these two were very smart. . Of all those who give and receive gifts, these are the wisest. They are the smartest anywhere. They are magicians. So in a sense, there are two surprising twists at the end of The Gift of Maggie: a unique plot twist that characterizes many of O'Henry's short stories, and a narrative "vehicle" in which he reverses our initial reaction.
which might be good-natured to laugh at the unfortunate turn of events - and make the moral point that Jim and Della used common sense, even if they ended up receiving "useless" gifts from each other. That's all well and good, but it's worth noting that the narrator doesn't say why he believes that Jim and Della were the "smartest" of all donors.
The Importance Of Selfless Love: Lessons From The Gift Of The Magi
Of course, the "wise" here suggests the sons, the Zoroastrian astrologers, who, according to Matthew in the Bible, visited the baby Jesus and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh: hence the name of the story. But what makes Jim and Della smart? And why doesn't Father Henry tell us?
Was it because he wanted us to make up our own minds, or did he think the answer was pretty self-explanatory? The latter seems more likely. Because of the "moral" of "Maggie's Gift" given the Christmas setting and the fact that Jim and Della clearly love and treat each other despite not having the money to buy the finer things in life.
this is love. More important than property. And when it comes to Christmas and buying gifts for our loved ones, it's really the thought that counts. But there is more to "Maggi's Gift" than this very old proverb, which would reduce the story to a sentimental and rather twee fable that "love is better than receiving" and "love is money."
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is more important than Both of these statements relate to the story, but the element of sacrifice is also the two characters and their reactions to learning the consequences. So Jim is happy to say goodbye to the 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, is growing back).
The Importance Of Selfless Love: Lessons From The Gift Of The Magi
takes months) to buy it. A gift that someone else really wants. But thanks to a twist in the story, they discover that their personal sacrifices—for the love of the other—were in vain. But they enjoy it, not because of the gesture of receiving a gift, but because of the great expense it has caused the other person.
Love, and Henry, seems like it's about giving up what you value most in order to show your beloved—the one you should love even more—the extent of your devotion. In other words, what is remarkable about "The Gift of the Witches" is that the moral is not only "it is better to give than to receive", but "all there is to give and lose".
Because what they get is not practical. . Apply to them. Enter your email address to subscribe to this page and receive email notifications of new posts. Fantastic Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk.
Our editors will review what you submitted and decide whether to edit the article. Our editors will review what you submitted and decide whether to edit the article. Maggie's Gift, a short story by O'Henry, appeared in the New York Sunday World in 1905 and was collected in Four Million (1906).
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