“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
William Sydney Porter, also known by his pen name O. Henry, is an American short story author who is well known for his humorous stories that comes with an unexpected ending. He was born on September 11, 1862 in the state of North Carolina. Initially he was not an author. In his early years, he held many different job positions ranging from banker, journalist, to even a licensed pharmacist from the age of 19. While working as a pharmacist, this was the beginning of him getting in touch with his creative side. He would draw sketches of the customers in which many praised him for his skills. In 1902, his career as a writer began to take place in the city of New York. He would produce one short story a week
…show more content…
Henry"). He then went on to writing many of his famous works such as The Four Millions and The Gift of the Magi, classic stories that are still beloved and told to this day.
The Gift of the Magi takes place a day before Christmas in the City of New York, a city where most of his fictional stories take place in ("William Sydney Porter Biography"). The story begins with a woman named Della counting the amount of money she managed to save up. It totaled to a dollar and eighty-seven cents. To gather even this amount of money after paying all the countless bills was difficult. Negotiating and bargaining with the local butcher and grocer were all the pennies that helped make up this value. She then burst into tears, falling on the couch. Even after her efforts of saving and collecting money, a dollar and eighty-seven cents was not enough to buy something worthy of her husband Jim. She looked into the mirror and saw her hair. Her hair was long and luscious; to her it was her most prized possession. In order to afford a gift for Jim, she cut off her valuable asset and sold it to the hair shop. The total amount of
…show more content…
In the story we are able to see many different sides of her emotions making her a round character. A round character is a major character that meets with conflict and is changed by it ("The Beloved Role of Round Characters"). She is relatable to the readers because she is an ordinary person who is placed in a situation of financial struggle like many of us. The setting being a day before Christmas is also familiar to many of us. When we think of Christmas, the thought of gifts is common. Unable to afford a proper gift, she then gives up her most valuable asset, her hair. This shows even though she does not have much, she is willing to sacrifice materialistic items for what truly has value, such as her love for husband Jim. This is a good representation of depth and maturity. The theme that underlines this story is the irony. What this mean that the outcome of both characters giving up their treasures for each other was unexpected. However it serves a great purpose. Just as how the Magi gave baby Jesus gifts that had value, the couples are seen as the wisest because they were willing to give up everything for one
The main protagonist for this story is Mr. Waythorn, he is the third and current husband of Alice Waythorn and the story is mostly told from his perspective. He is the main character of the story and works with Alice's second husband, Gus Varick. He is also the stepfather of Lily who is the daughter of the first husband of Alice; Mr. Haskett. He looks beyond the social stigma of marrying a woman who has been twice divorced. We see throughout the story Mr. Waythorn’s character undergoes some changes in the way he views his wife and her past relationships thereby making him a round character. Mrs. Waythorn is the antagonist of this story, it is obvious that the she has used all her marriages to advance her social standing, she redefines herself based on the level she attains, thereby refining who she is to those around her. We see all this from the perspective of her husband. After the glow of the honeymoon has died down Mr. Waythorn begins to realize that his perception of who Alice was before they got married was probably wrong. Alice is revealed to be more complicated as a character than we are initially presented with based on the perception of her current husband, so for this reason she is a round character.
The Round House, is a story of justice and tradition and how these two concepts can both help and hinder each other. As Joe, the protagonist of the novel, sets out on a quest to avenge the rape and near murder of his mother, he learns a lot about the culture and traditions that surround him on the reservation. Arguably, the most important aspect of Native American culture that Joe learns of are the stories of the windigoo that Mooshum tells in his dreams. These stories push Joe to seek revenge on his own and help him to develop a better understanding of how and why racial conflict and Native American history are so important in the quest for justice for his mother. Traditional stories are also important in The God of Small Things. The concept of the Love Laws being laid down at the beginning of time influence the relationships of every single character in the novel. When Rahel and Esta are taken to the kathkali dance by their uncle, the reader is able to draw parallels between this ancient story that shows how the Love Laws were broken and the much mor...
O. Henry is a very inspirational person, in “The Gift of the Magi,” he makes the story go a lot deeper than the words on the page, with a little something called symbolism. One thing he really specializes in is symbolism, certainly with adolescence, worriness, and timelessness in this story. Symbolism plays a huge role in the narrative, a role so big that without it, the story would be quite dull. Without symbolism, this story would not have half the meaning it does now, when you dig into the story, you discover how much Della and Jim really love one
(58). He had to write short stories to make a living. He had wrote over
writer who gave so much of himself in his belief that "writing was his duty on earth."
Henry's first-person narrative is the most important element of these stories. Through it he recounts the events of his life, his experiences with others, his accomplishments and troubles. The great achievement of this narrative voice is how effortlessly it reveals Henry's limited education while simultaneously demonstrating his quick intelligence, all in an entertaining and convincing fashion. Henry introduces himself by introducing his home-town of Perkinsville, New York, whereupon his woeful g...
Mark Twain uses humor, irony and satire in his short stories. Also known as Samuel Clemens, he was a writer of the late 19th century of America. Most famously known for his work The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain was born on November 30th, 1835, in the state of Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth child in his family, making him the youngest child. Twain is also remembered as an “American humorist and novelist, [who] captured a world audience with stories of boyhood adventure... with commentary on man's shortcomings that is humorous...” ("Mark Twain"). He was well complemented by various other novelists.
“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
O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi,” is about a couple who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. The story takes place on Christmas Eve in a furnished apartment at eight dollars a week. I feel that the narrator mocks Jim and Della for being poor. “It did not beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.” (O. Henry 165). Della and Jim’s income shrunk from thirty dollars a week to twenty dollars a week causing them a great deal of financial problems. They both are troubled that Christmas is tomorrow and they cannot afford to buy each other a nice gift. Jim’s gold watch and Della’s hair play an important role in the story.
In “The Gift of the Magi,” Mrs. James Dillingham Young, Della, is the main round, static protagonist that is driven to make a difficult decision in order to buy her husband a Christmas gift that is worthy of him. Della is a round character because she does show many different sides. In the beginning of the story, it reads: “There was ...
At the beginning of the story she “shines” when people choose to see her in the right “light”, which is love or attention. However, at the end of the play when Jim accidentally breaks off the unicorn’s horn, it is no longer exotic or unique. At first, Laura calls this “a blessing in disguise” –that he has made her normal. But when he reveals to her that he is engaged to another woman, her hopes are shattered just like the unicorn’s horn. Now the unicorn is just like all the other horses, therefore, she decides it is more fitting for Jim than it is for her. When he asks what she gives it to him for she replies, “A—souvenir….” Then she hands it to him, almost as if to show him that he had shattered her unique beauty. This incident changes her in the way that a piece of her innocence that made her so different was now gone. She is still beautiful and fragile like the menagerie, but just as she gives a piece of her collection to Jim, she also gives him a piece of her heart that she would never be able to regain. Laura and her menagerie are both at risk of being crushed when exposed to the uncaring reality of the
“Journey of the Magi” is a poem by T.S Eliot extracted from the Ariel poems and published in 1930. It is a dramatic monologue of one of the Magi telling us about his expedition throughout Palestine to find the Christian messiah: Jesus Christ. Through the narrator’s dramatic monologue, Eliot treats the envisioning of reality, usually distorted by the human mind. In the poem, the travelers witness something that changes their reality forever. How does this monologue illustrate the narrator’s envision of his experience traveling through Palestine? In order to analyze the narrator’s perception of his past journey, I will precede with the study of Eliot’s poem by a linear analysis.
of short stories in order to support his daughter. O. Henry was once asked why he wrote; he
While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking (1899), appeared in McClure's Magazine.
This Christmas poem is about the Epiphany and was created the very year of Eliot’s conversion to Christianity (Fleisner, 66). Therefore the theme of religion is an important one if we are to analyse the poem correctly. In the book of Ephesians in the Bible, Paul describes the rebirth of the world upon Christ’s death, emphasising the Ephesians’ new life (2:4-5). This theme of death and rebirth is present in the poem Journey of the Magi, which, I will argue, is structurally and internally divided into three stages; corresponding to the Sacrament of Penance: contrition (guilt), confession and satisfaction.