Think about the last time that you opened a present that had been given to you by someone you love. Did you take a moment to think about what they might have gone through just to give you that one perfect gift? The giver may have sacrificed something very dear to their heart to give you that small token. In Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry, a young couple who is in desperate financial struggle sells their most prized possessions to purchase gifts for each other. O. Henry teaches the valuable lesson that sometimes in order to give a well thought out gift we may be required to sacrifice our time, possessions, or self aspirations.
First and foremost, to be devoted to the giving, one must willingly sacrifice their time. This can be seen in our story when Della took a considerable amount of time to search high and low for the ideal present for Jim. “Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim’s present.” (Henry pg. 526) Della hadn’t paid attention to the face of a clock as she hunted for the gift. Instead, she was willing to take however long was needed, giving up precious time that cannot be taken back. Even so, in the world today many people voluntarily give up their time to go on rescue missions in the rubble of a natural disaster, to work at a hospital gift shop, to feed homeless people at a shelter, and even to read to children at schools. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, 64.5 million Americans volunteered nearly 7.9 billion hours in the year 2013. The estimated value of this volunteer service is nearly $175 billion, based on the Independent Sector's estimate of the average value of a volunteer hour. People volunteer knowing tha...
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...howed me as he nurtured me. It is much to sacrifice your time and possessions for the sake of giving. In short, when you sacrifice your goals you are not only giving a gift, but giving up your future. You are giving up your future for the ones you love. That ladies and gentlemen is the deepest way to show your love.
In brief, the lesson by O. Henry teaches us that sacrifice is sometimes needed in pursuance of the perfect gift. We, as the givers, may be called upon to give up our possessions, time, and self aspirations in these moments. “How can we expect our children to know and experience the joy of giving unless we teach them that the greater pleasure in life lies in the art of giving rather than receiving.” says James Cash Penney. Next time you rip off that delicate wrapping paper, think about the giver and what you can sacrifice to give a thank you gift to them.
In the essay “Returning The Gift” Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about finding your gift and using it to show gratitude toward the earth. Kimmerer implies that we should each find our natural gift in the world and then use it to make the world a better place. Our society has become such a consumption-driven economy that instead of having gratitude we seek to consume more and more rather than being content. Everyday we are given gifts of the earth but fail to give back equal measure for what we take. In order for the Earth to stay imbalanced and to stay positive, and natural gifts to occur we must show our appreciation towards Earth. By showing our appreciation toward Earth we are ensuring a better tomorrow.
The Adoration of the Magi is a famous oil painting by Sandro Botticelli in 1475. It depicts a very popular and well-known scene from the bible; the birth of Jesus Christ and the Three Kings who have traveled a long distance to see him. This type of picture is very popular and their are multiple types of this painting by many painters, but Botticelli’s painting has many aspects within the art that make it different from the others. The biggest difference that stands out is that Botticelli paints a portrait of himself standing in the background but in front of the painting, looking back directly to the beholder of the art. Another notable difference about his painting is that Botticelli depicts the three kings as Cosimo, Piero, and Giovanni Medici
Judith Lichtenberg successfully conveys her moral theory with many questions regarding her topics of abstractness, the sense of futility and ineffectiveness, overestimating our generosity, distance, the relativity of well-being, the power of shame, and the drops in the bucket. Using these practical and philosophical ideas she explains why we as a people should search to discover the obstacles that are preventing us from giving more, rather than the finding our charitable obligations and the amounts we should be giving. She leads us to the ideal of motivation and tells us to pay less attention to obligation, because without X being moved to do an act, does it really matter what the act was if X never induces the action?
Another reason for someone to give what someone deserves but at the end of the day is what
Gift giving is a concept that not only occurs in the three disciplines but also in our everyday life. The gift economy works when a person gives a gift and then expects the other person to reciprocate the gift giving and do something nice for them. This is significant because the concepts of gift giving and reciprocation is an endless cycle. This cycle of gift giving is seen in the disciplines we study (literature, art, and music). Literal gift giving is the actual giving of a gift in hoping that the receiver will reciprocate the gift. Literal gifts are often seen in in the literature novels, such as Gilgamesh and Beowulf. Metaphoric gifts show the significance and symbolic ways of gift giving. Metaphoric gifts are often seen in art and music
People perpetrate seemingly selfless acts almost daily. You see it all over the news; the man who saved that woman from a burning building, the mother who sacrificed herself to protect her children from the bomb blast. But how benevolent are these actions? Are these so-called “heroes” really sacrificing themselves to help others? Until recently, it was the common belief that altruism, or selfless and unconditional kindness, was limited primarily to the human race. However, within the last century, the works of several scientists, most prominently George Price, have provided substantial evidence concluding that altruism is nothing more than a survival technique, one that can be calculated with a simple equation.
The story “The Gift of the Magi” tells the story in only a good light. There is a darkness the story does speak upon, Jim and Della were the complete opposite of wise they were imprudent. The characters are poor but still want to get each other gifts for christmas with money they got from selling what they held closest to their heart. Jim regrets buying Della combs because hasn’t got any hair to comb. “But if you’ll open that, you may know what I felt when I came in.” Love can be bad if there are miscommunications and poor decisions. If a relationship has a poor future is there really a relationship in the first place. Jim wants to let the gifts be forgotten as they had poor communication and neither could use there gifts. “let’s put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while” (Henry para.40) Being in a relationship can cause you to make bad decisions. A relationship should be built upon two pillars respect and knowledge. If a relationship has only respect then it will slowly crumble and fall leaving only the ruins of a somewhat bright
The effects of love and sacrifice on one’s life can be shown through the character of Lucie Manette in the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The way Lucie applies warmth to her friends and family and sacrifices for them has a greater impact than anything else could possibly do. In fact, loving gestures have the power to do anything. They can brighten moods and ameliorate one’s day. Overall, Love is a powerful feeling. It can be defined in many ways, but is always an important emotion to have. Without it, humans are empty. It is a necessary part of living; with it, anything is possible.
My author william sydney porter had a astonishing life changing experience while he was in prison. William Sydney Porter, later known as O. Henry wrote in a dry, but yet very humorous style as suggested in “The Gift of the Magi.” He generally used coincidences and many surprise endings. As a child he had a rough time working multiple jobs. He had a life changing experience that lead his work to be well known in american literature. His legacy all began from a crime he committed as a bank teller.
...esult, the more directly one sees their personal efforts impact someone else, the more happiness one can gain from the experience of giving. Sometimes generosity requires pushing past a feeling of reluctance because people all instinctively want to keep good things for themselves, but once one is over this feeling, they will feel satisfaction in knowing that they have made a difference in someone else’s life. However, if one lives without generosity but is not selfish, they can still have pleasure from other virtues.
“Gift of the Magi” is a short story about a man and a woman who care deeply for each other. Around Christmas, each person wanted to get the other an extravagant present for their prized possession. The
Sherman, Amy L. “Expectant Giving.” The Christian Century 116.6 (1999): 206. Academic OneFile. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.
It is a known fact of life that true love is hard to find in this day and age; one could say it is more plausible to find a needle in a haystack. True, sincere love, when found, is a real test to humanity. O.Henry, the author of the short story “The Gift of The Magi”, has written a masterpiece about a young couple who give everything they have for each other in order to show the great magnitude of their love. Della and James Young live in a poor suburb of New York where the young couple resides in a shabby apartment. They do not have much to give; however, it is Christmas Eve, so both are searching for a gift for the other. Both Della and James sacrifice their most valued gifts in order to please the other. O.Henry
... us making time in our busy lives to serve people in need, they too will learn the importance of self-sacrifice. Our actions speak louder than our words. We can preach to them all day long about service and sacrificing for others, but if they don’t witness our active participation in these acts, they will likely follow our example and not heed our words.
In the wake of perhaps, a financial problem a person could sacrifice the luxuries of their lives to benefit another cause in their life that they care for. Think of a time that you have given up a luxury for a better cause in yours or another’s life. These can feel good despite the sacrifice we make. For example, in an article entitled “Canine News” the article speaks of owners