In the story Gift of the Magi the author uses conflict to help the reader understand the theme of the story. The author uses the theme love is shown through selfless acts by illustrating how the two main characters Della and Jim both sold their valuable items to buy each other a gift. In the story It is Christmas time and Della has no money to buy her husband Jim a gift. She only has a dollar and eighty seven cents, but one thing Della does have is her beautiful long hair. Della knows Jim vaules his watch that his dad gave him. So Della decides for Jim's Christmas present she is going to buy him a gold watch chain. Since Della only has a dollar and eighty seven cents she goes to sell her most valuable item, which is her hair. Della goes into Mrs. Sofronies hair shop and says, “‘ will you buy my hair?”(O.Henry 3) Then Mrs Sofronie said “‘ twenty dollars” ( O.Henry 3) This quote uses conflict by how Della would sell the most important thing to her which may make Jim not love her, to show how much she loves Jim. …show more content…
This peice of conflict also translates into the theme love is shown through selfless acts. It is illustrated by showing how Della is only thinking about Jim. Della cares more about Jim’s happiness than her own. Della showed this by how she gave up her happiness which was her hair in order to get Jim a gift. Now that Della sold her hair she does not have very much. Della´s coat and hat are very old. It is winter time and she needs a new coat and hat. By selling her hair Della has twenty dollars and she could buy some new things for herself. But Della does not care about herself she says to Jim “I couldn't live through Christmas without getting you a gift.” ( O. Henry 4) This quote uses conflict because Della really needs a new coat and hat . Della has to walk everywhere and she will get very cold without proper
Della and Jim love each other desperately. It's because of Della's love that she makes the rash decision to cut off all of her hair in the hopes of getting enough money worthy of "her Jim." The two things most prized in their shabby little household, besides each other, are Jim's watch and Della's Hair. This information is why I say it was a hasty to sell her hair. For the hair bought a chain to make the watch more presentable; The watch bought combs for Della's hair. The love they had for each other caused them to lose something very precious, and in turn, caused them to love each other even
In O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi”, the author uses irony to develop the theme of sacrificing in the name of love. Della was eagerly waited for Jim to gift him the chain for his watch she spent a lot of trouble getting, however when Jim arrived, he was quite surprised since he “sold the watch to get the money to buy [her] combs (Henry, 5). During Christmas time, everyone gets gifts for their loved ones and it shows how much the person cares about them. Throughout the story, it mostly described Della’s side of the story and how much trouble she went through in order to be able to afford a chain for her husband’s watch, however we did not see much of Jim’s side of the story. Jim also wanted to gift Della something special since
Mathilde and Della are not rich and they both want something that they cannot have. Overall Mathilde wants to be rich, but in particular she wants a nice outfit for the ball. For her dressing up like a rich woman is a satisfaction for her desires. Della wants to buy a nice gift for her husband. She thinks that her gift is meaningful for her
In the story, Della sacrifices her hair for her husband. Her hair was cut so she has money to buy her husband a chain for his watch. Her hair was a symbol of pride to her, but she was willing to give up that for her husband. This is her response to the situation that she will cut her hair for her husband. This displays that she is selfless, loving, and caring.
The sacrifice that is found in both stories, speaks to wanted to give, even if it hurts. Jim sold his watch that belonged not only to him, but was pasted down from his grandfather to his father and then to Jim. Della has the one thing that she could not put a price on, her hair. But yet she did not hesitate to take $20.
The truth is that Della and Jim are both foolish because despite the fact that they are poor, they trade their most prized possessions for items that neither one of them need, but in the end, both presents are useless anyway. The story begins with Jim getting a cut in his salary. He no longer has the money to support Della and him. Della is hustling people in order to save money.
The Magi's are the wise men that created the art of giving Christmas presents. Just like Jim and Della in The Gift Of The Magi. In The Gift of The Magi, Jim and Della expressed their inordinate amount of love through their gifts, and through Literary elements , expressing the theme of the story. Three literary elements that enhanced the theme "Love is more valuable than possessions", in The Gift of The Magi are, the characterization, the plot, and the setting. The characterization in the story expresses she's the theme in many ways.
In’’The Gift Of The Magi’’ Della, one of the main character, really wants to get her, loving and sweet, husband a gift for Christmas. Della doesn’t have any money to get her husband something. Della had beautiful hair which everyone
The theme of “The Gift of the Magi” and the song “Endlessly” is for true love you sacrifice. An example of “The Gift of the Magi” includes, “Will you buy my hair?”(2) At this time Della is desperate to find a way to acquire the money to buy her husband a worthy Christmas present. As a result, she turns to selling her most prized possession: her hair. Later, Della’s husband, Jim, arrives home to see Della’s hair was cut. He sees Della’s hair and he gets a astonished look on his face, and Della believes that Jim does not approve of her new hairstyle. On the contrary, Jim, after giving Della her present, later mentioned, “I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs.” Resulting, in them both giving up their greatest possessions for their
In the story, “The Gift of the Magi”, Jim and Della both sacrificed the things they valued for the other person’s wants. Jim sacrificed his watch and Della sacrificed her hair. These items, his watch and her hair, were their most prized possessions. Some people might argue that it was not very wise of them to sell their items and use the money on unnecessary things. Some think that instead of buying each other something, they should have saved that money or used it on something more important than silly gifts. Nevertheless, this was not a frivolous act of spending money, rather an act of love.
In the story it says, “‘Dell,’ said he, ‘let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ‘em a while.’” The Christmas presents they got each other symbolize the love they have for each other. Another example in the story is, “And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.” Giving away their most prized possessions and self worth just to give the other a worthy Christmas gift symbolizes the absolute love they have for each other. In this case, O. Henry uses simple objects, combs and a chain, to symbolize the unending love Della and Jim have for each
Della had beautiful, brown hair that was reached below her knee. One day she was walking, and she stumbled upon a sign that read “Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds. She rushed up to the store that she read about on the sign. “Will you buy my hair?” asked Della. “I buy hair,” said Madame. (Henry 263) She ended up cutting her beautiful hair and selling it for $20. She gave up something she loved for money to buy Jim, her husband, a Christmas present.
Have you ever experienced such an extreme financial hardship, which left you wondering how you can make ends meet until your next payday? There has come a point in our lives where we may have met or seen a person who may have been less fortunate than us. With the willingness to make things happen, people are sometimes able to overcome such obstacles and hardships. The short story Gift Of The Magi was written by O. Henry. This story portrays a woman’s current financial hardship and the toll it takes on her emotions and relationship. The beginning starts out with Della crying due to the fact that she only has a dollar and eighty seven cents to buy a christmas present for her beloved husband. Its clearly shown that due to the dramatic decrease of Jim’s earnings, the couple have very little money to spend on anything else besides the bare necessities. Della wants to buy a gift to show her husband exactly how much she loves him but can’t do so with such limited funds.Once Della is done crying and sulcing in her sorrows she stands in front of the mirror. While admiring her long beautiful hair Della comes up with a what she feels is a great idea. In a frantic rush Della grabs her coat and leaves her house in a rush. Moments later Della reaches her destination, a shop for hair goods of all kinds. Without hesitation; Della asks the owner how much money she will give her for her long beautiful locks. Madame offered a whole twenty dollars for Della’s hair. Without hesitation
The story is of a young woman, Della, who lives in poverty with her husband. Although, she is determined to get a Christmas gift for her loved one. Della ends up cutting and selling her luxurious, brown waves of ankle-long hair to sacrifice for her husband and his happiness. He also held something that is dear to him – his watch passed on by generations, only secured by a leather strap. Knowing that her husband deserved more, Della bought him a unique, hand-made silver chain. In the end, her husband sacrificed his precious watch for her wants, unknowing of her actions.
And now suppose you put the chops on.’” However, Della no longer had her long hair and therefore had no use for hair combs. This proves how Jim and Della both love eachother so much that they would give up their prized possessions to get the other a present for Christmas day. Since love had taken control of their money problems, they both see how strong they both feel for eachother.