What Is The Irony In The Gift Of The Magi

In the short story “The Gift Of The Magi” O.Henry uses irony and symbolism to greatly impact the experience of the story. In the story, it’s Christmas time and a couple is trying to give each other gifts. In the beginning Della is desperate in selling her hair to have some money to buy a gift for Jim.She does find someone that will pay for her long beautiful hair and spends the day going through stores to find the perfect gift for Jim's watch. As the story continues Jim gets home sees that Della has cut her hair. As they looked at each other they realized Della has given up her hair to buy Jim a chain for his watch and Jim had sold his watch for combs for Della's beautiful hair. O.Henry uses irony and symbolism throughout the story “The Gift Of The Magi”

The types of irony in The Gift Of The Magi will be situational irony. A example will be that Jim came and saw Della short cut hair. This is irony because Jim has gone out of his way to buy his wife Della combs. “Jim comes home from work and sees Della short hair, the fact that he purchased hair combs for Della demonstrated he didn't expect her to sell her hair(flora 2).

Another example could be that Jim didn't expect to receive a chain from his wife della after he sold his watch for the combs. This is irony because the wife doesn't know that Jim had sold his gold watch. “Jim unexpectedly receives the fob that Della gave him for his watch, but Della didn't know that he sold it”(flora 2).

O.henry use of irony, mood and symbolism throughout the short story The Gift Of The Magi has greatly enhanced the reading experience of reading the story.

The Gift Of The Magi is a great story to read alone or in a group. The story shows the right amount of irony between the the main characters. Also the author has a great sense in what to use for the symbolism in the short story. Overall it's an amazing story to read with many twists and a sense of